I believe it was Mr. Rogers who said, “When I was a boy and would see scary things on the news, my mother would say to me ‘Look for the Helpers – you will always find people who are helping’. Well, when our life was a little scary, I could look out and see a sea of fezzes – all volunteering their time to help people like us.

Let me go back a bit and tell you about our ongoing adventure. In 2010 our amazing son Benjamin was born. Both my husband and I were crippled with fear during those first few days after his birth. We knew something was wrong, but we didn’t really know what. Doctors told us to ‘wait and see what happened’. We didn’t want to hear that – we wanted to hear ‘everything is going to be fine’. The omission of those words terrified us.

Our little ball of joy did manage to survive then next few hours…then the next few…and so on and so forth. His first few days of life were inundated with a busyness that no newborn should ever have to endure….xrays, ultrasounds, bloodwork. On our tenth day, after staying in two hospitals, we started sorting out some of what was wrong. Ben was diagnosed with something called Goldenhar Syndrome. It is also called oculoaruiculobertebral syndrome, but I only say this after a few glasses of wine when I’m trying to impress someone. This is just a fancy way of saying he has problems with his eyes, ears, and spine.

To make a long-story short, we didn’t get immersed into the Shriner’s Hospital until our local team of doctors were planning for Ben’s surgery. We had numerous meetings and conversations about what we would do. Finally, one day Jesse and I were called in and they told us they weren’t sure what to do. They knew Ben needed surgery, but they didn’t want to do it as it would involve his complicated cervical spine. They began looking for specialists across the country, Shriners being one of them.

With Shriners in our lives, we have access to two families….our local Al Shamal Shriners family and our not so local amazing Shriners Hospital family. Through this journey, I have had the opportunity to connect with a tonne of parents who are recipients of the generation donations of their local Shrine as well as the amazing medical care offered by Shriners Hospitals in Canada and the US. Every conversation with parents reflects on the gratitude they feel for having Shriners in our complicated lives. Thank you Shriners for all you do to provide exceptional care for children.

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