SickKids Foundation

Nothing like a SickKids Halloween!! 🧡🎃

This sweet pumpkin is back home after multiple The Hospital for Sick Children stays, is making amazing strides in his developmental milestones, and is showing his cheeky personality. 🎃 🍂 At just eight days old, Ezra was diagnosed with severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) - a rare genetic disorder that affects the immune system. Despite the many ups and downs, Ezra always wears a smile while at the Hospital. “To our boy who has shown us his fight is bigger than any problem big or small, thank you for filling our lives with cheeky smiles and cute grunts,” says his mama, Michelle. 💙 📷: @scidbaby_e on IG

“There’s always someone that’s going to need this Hospital.” 30 years ago, it was Shari’s family that needed SickKids. Now she’s paying it forward as a Workplace Champion. Shari and her husband George have been long-time supporters of The Hospital for Sick Children. But in 2017, she reached out to SickKids Foundation with aspirations of taking their fundraising to the next level. This time leveraging the power, commitment, and generosity of their company Total Credit Recovery Limited, too. From the early days of bake sales and throwing pies into the face of managers, to operating a robust payroll deduction program and offering donation matching during the holidays, Shari has found many different ways to engage and unify her colleagues through fundraising. And it’s been working – to date having raised over $150K to support various priorities at SickKids. “We’re so lucky to have a world-class Hospital in our own city. It’s not really complicated for me. Everybody knows somebody who has been helped or touched by SickKids. It’s really not a hard sell.” Shari Krieser is just one example of how you can help us heal the future as a Workplace Champion. If you’d like to learn more about the program or how to start fundraising through your company’s employee giving program, visit: https://bit.ly/3YFP1Ar

Ben was born at 24 weeks and spent the first six months of his life in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). Now 11 years old, he and his family still have a strong and lasting connection with SickKids and the staff who helped them through their most difficult days.      According to Ben's mom, Jessica, the family and wellness supports offered in the NICU – from a scrapbooking club to chats with Rita Visconti, the NICU’s former parent liaison – played a "key part" in keeping the family afloat during those first several months in hospital.     As Ben grew up and returned to SickKids for check-ups and appointments, he and Jessica always made an effort to visit Rita, who now works in another role supporting families and staff. They also attend the NICU Family Barbecue every September – it's an opportunity to reconnect with staff, families and for Ben to learn more about his "special story."    Learn more about Ben's special story and the beautiful connections that are born in the SickKids NICU ➡ https://bit.ly/3NKaPoc

Joy has been smashing misconceptions and expectations her entire life. ✊ Joy was born with Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia Congenita (SEDc), a rare genetic disorder that results in short stature (dwarfism) and skeletal abnormalities. But her journey to diagnosis was far from easy. After being referred to SickKids at just nine months old, Joy underwent extensive metabolic and genetic testing in attempts to identify the unknown cause(s) of some of her developmental delays. Every test came back negative. Joy never exhibited the typical characteristics of SEDc. But after Joy’s mom Jolene asked her doctor to consider further testing, they pursued a specialized genetic test which confirmed that Joy did have the gene mutation responsible for SEDc. Since her diagnosis, Joy has been a frequent patient at SickKids. Most recently, spending six weeks in the Hospital for halo traction and a 12-hour spinal fusion surgery. Despite all the adversity she’s faced, she is a sassy, smart, hysterically funny and kind teenager. Joy is her name personified. Stories like Joy’s are an important reminder of the impact #PrecisionChildHealth can have on every patient and family who enter the doors of The Hospital for Sick Children looking for a diagnosis. We’re healing the future for all of them. #DwarfismAwarenessDay #DwarfismAwarenessMonth #SickKidsVS #SKHealTheFuture

More than $2.8 million raised, and eight groundbreaking SickKids research projects funded. Now heading into its fourth year, the Breakthrough Fund is looking to expand its tremendous impact by recruiting five new investors, who will have their first year of giving matched. New Breakthrough Fund members will have the opportunity to join 32 of Toronto’s leading business, technology and venture capital minds, all of whom recognize the health-care benefits and future commercialization potential of research projects underway at The Hospital for Sick Children. In December, SickKids will host the Breakthrough Fund’s fourth annual vote, which brings investors and researchers together at an exclusive event where marketable inventions are pitched, and projects are invested in.  SickKids is Canada’s largest non-governmental investor in children’s health research. Cement your legacy, invest with newfound impact and help fuel the novel paediatric treatments and technologies of tomorrow by joining the Breakthrough Fund.  Contact breakthroughfund@sickkidsfoundation.com to learn more.

SickKids Workplace Champions are helping us heal the future, through their work.    These passionate and committed individuals choose to act as leaders in their workplaces, investing their valuable time, energy and resources to inspire their colleagues to do the same. All in support of The Hospital for Sick Children.    We recently hosted a group of Champions for an evening of celebration, where they had the chance to tour SickKids’ state-of-the-art Simulation Centre, and hear directly from one of our Patient Ambassadors and the Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer.   We want to extend our gratitude and thanks to each and every one of our Champions for their ongoing commitment and passion for joining us in the fight for children’s health. Meet them in the comments below! Learn more about the Workplace Champions program and how to get started: https://bit.ly/4gIjxRk

4️⃣9️⃣ - By 2019, that was the number of people in the world who had been diagnosed with SLC35A2-CDG...and Zoe was one of them. After several unexplained health challenges in her first year of life, Zoe was seen by Dr. Gregory Costain, a SickKids physician-scientist who specializes in rare genetic conditions. After blood samples from both Zoe and her parents were sent for genome-wide sequencing, her mom Sarah-Lynne received the call. Doctors explained that her daughter had a DNA variant resulting in a rare condition called SLC35A2-CDG. This condition affects many parts of the body, and includes symptoms like seizures, low muscle tone, and developmental delays that typically develop during infancy. While Zoe’s diagnosis requires ongoing treatment, her symptoms are now being managed, thanks to her dedicated health-care team at The Hospital for Sick Children. Today, with their support, Zoe is attending school, enjoys playing in the water, and is showcasing both her sense of humour and mischievous side. 🌟 “She wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for SickKids,” says her mom. Stories like Zoe’s demonstrate how #PrecisionChildHealth can help families receive faster diagnoses and more targeted, effective treatments. 💙🔍🔬 #SKHealTheFuture #SickKidsVS

After months of emergency room visits, Hannah’s asthma diagnosis and personalized treatment plan changed everything for her and her family. Hannah first started exhibiting symptoms of a cold before her first birthday. But her wheezing and laboured breathing indicated it was much more than that. Over time, she was diagnosed with everything from pneumonia to bronchitis. But after being referred to the SickKids Asthma Clinic and seen by Dr. PJ Subbarao, Hannah’s family finally got the answers they needed. In addition to her asthma treatments, Hannah underwent extra testing to help Dr. PJ identify the underlying cause of her lung inflammation. Testing revealed Hannah was experiencing recurrent infections due to changes in her airway microbiome. Treating the microbiome was effective for keeping her symptoms at bay. Hannah’s asthma has changed as she’s gotten older but with regular visits to SickKids, her health care team remains in constant tune with her treatment needs. In this episode of the SickKids VS Podcast, sponsored by CIBC, hear more of Hannah’s story and learn how Dr. PJ Subbarao, clinician-scientist in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, and scientific co-lead of Precision Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children, is predicting breathing disorders earlier: https://bit.ly/3NnCWJK #SKHealTheFuture #PrecisionChildHealth #SickKidsVS

On this #WorldMentalHealthDay, we wanted to share a closer look at the recent refresh of an outdated space at The Garry Hurvitz SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health! The new multi-functional space, designed by Victoria Tonelli, features areas to create and decompress, art created by the youth who use the space, and a wall mural designed by a commissioned artist. The calming and welcoming environment has become such an important space for youth in the day treatment program and for those in group therapy sessions. We want to send our special thanks to our friends at Rogers Communications and Breakfast Television for making this renovation possible. 👏 Today and every day, we are proud to continue to action The Hospital for Sick Children's mental health strategy to deliver the best quality of care.