August 8, 2016
Stollery Kid Hannah Crowther is grateful for the great care she’s received over the years at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Now 19, she is grateful for support through events like the third annual Stollery Week just around the corner, and she can’t thank donors enough.
Story by Kerri Robins; photo courtesy of Crowther family
EDMONTON — Radio and television audiences here will be treated to heart-warming stories and challenged to raise money for kids’ health with the return of Stollery Week. The third annual event runs from Monday, Aug. 8 through Friday, Aug. 12, with radio partners 104.9 FM, 100.3 FM and 1260 AM and television partners CTV and Alberta Primetime joining forces to raise funds for the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.
For families like the Crowthers, these donations are priceless.
One Stollery kid, Hannah Crowther, has faces some challenging times.
“When the doctors told us Hannah might not survive birth, and if she did, she would be severely disabled, we were shocked — it was almost surreal,” says her mother Becky Crowther, recalling the day she and her husband Doug got the bad news.
“We had no choice but to do what our hearts told us,” adds Becky, “so we chose to ignore what we heard the doctors saying — and put our faith in our little girl.”
Hannah was born with hydrocephalus — a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid inside the brain — which left her with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy. The condition made her legs stiff and her femur bones turn inward, something that could make walking impossible.
In her first three months alone, she underwent three surgeries.
Regardless, this very determined girl learned to walk when she was four. For those who know Hannah, it’s no surprise, thanks to her ‘can do’ attitude.
“There are times I think, ‘What if I can’t do this?’ But then I think, ‘What if I tried?” says Hannah.
For six years she lived with ongoing Botox injections and wore casts to help straighten her legs, then braved two more leg surgeries at the age of 10 to help turn her feet outward — which meant she had to learn to walk all over again.
Now 19, the Saskatchewan woman who has endured more than 35 surgeries since birth says: “I like my scars, they’re like tattoos, but with better stories.”
To help more families like the Crowthers, the foundation’s goal for this Stollery Week is to raise $200,000 for 10 non-invasive breathing machines for the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
“These machines provide a number of benefits to our little patients,” says Ann Hudson-Mason, Clinical Lead Respiratory Therapy, Stollery NICU, at Royal Alexandra Hospital site.
“This type of respiratory support uses either nasal prongs or a mask to assist breathing — preventing the need for intubation (insertion of a breathing tube down the throat) in many cases.
“While the machines are relatively simple to use,” she adds, “their value is in their non-invasive and gentle approach to treatment for our newborns.”
“We encourage family-centred care in our NICU, and the absence of a a breathing tube helps mom start breastfeeding earlier. It allows both parents skin-to-skin contact without worrying about dislodging a breathing tube. Not to mention, no breathing tube means less risk of infection and development of chronic lung disease.”
Since the event raised more than $530,000 over the last two years, Mike House, President and CEO of the foundation, says: “Stollery Week makes a meaningful difference to the life of a child who is sick or injured. With your monthly donation, the foundation is making sure children and families continue receiving specialized, family centred care from some of the world’s best medical teams. Thank you for your generous support.”
The Crowther family is also grateful for Stollery Week and for all the care they’ve received at the hospital.
With most of her medical complications behind her, Hannah now plans to attend Grant MacEwan College this fall, where she’ll now focus her determination on her studies. “I’m not going to say I can do everything, but you better believe I’m going to try.”
For more information, or to make a donation, please tune in to your favourite stations and donate online at www.stollerykids.com or call 780-433-5437.
— with files from Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation Heroes magazine
