Since 2007, my 7-yr-old son Jack has been hosting an annual lemonade stand to help his friends at SickKids Hospital in Toronto. Through incredible community support, he has raised more than $150,000! Unfortunately, Jack has a very personal connection to SickKids: He’s a patient.
Jack has been having seizures since he was a baby, and in 2005 he was diagnosed with a severe type of epilepsy, which is a seizure disorder. Over the past several years his seizures continued to worsen, despite an aggressive treatment plan that included numerous medications and a rigid, highly-specialized diet. In 2009, we were told that brain surgery was likely Jack’s only chance at a cure, as he was having up to fifty seizures a day. We knew that there were significant surgical risks, which included the chance that Jack might not be able to talk or use his right-hand side again. While this was incredibly scary, we were extremely grateful that Jack had this option, as many children do not.
This January, Jack underwent three brain surgeries at SickKids, which totaled more than 24 hours and involved the removal of part of his brain. Once he was medically stable, he was transferred over to Bloorview Kid’s Rehab Hospital where he started intensive therapy to relearn how to walk and talk.
Incredibly, since Jack’s last surgery, he has not had a single seizure and can now talk, walk, and even run again! We don’t know what the future holds, but for today he is healthy! Jack has finally moved back home and has just returned to school, where his teachers and classmates welcomed him back with open arms.
Jack has spent his short life living a very different life than what most would consider a “normal” childhood. He has endured thousands of seizures and pills, numerous ambulance rides, frequent hospital stays, hundreds of needles, and countless tests and procedures. Despite all of this, he remains a happy and loving boy with a mischievous grin. He is also a proud big brother to 4-yr-old Christopher.
Jack’s bravery, determination and compassionate spirit for other children and have taught me so much. The past several months have been the biggest emotional rollercoaster ride of my life. I could never have imagined the extremes of my emotions, ranging from unbearable heartache that comes with caring for a sick child to the intense love that I felt for Jack as I hugged him, while he lay unconscious in the ICU post-surgery. Having a child with a chronic medical condition has forced me to re-evaluate my life and to determine what is truly important to me. It`s taken several years to get to this point, but I can now say that epilepsy has empowered me and ignited a passion in me to help others. Jack`s condition has also taught me to be more compassionate, to live life to the fullest, and to not sweat the small stuff. Life will always be full of challenges, medical or otherwise, so my advice is to turn your lemons into lemonade.
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