NJY Donates: Alberta Children’s Hospital
In 2016, I moved to Calgary, Alberta to undergo the bone marrow transplant which would eventually cure me of sickle cell, at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Even through the multiple challenges and daily battles that I faced, the ACH still left me with some of the best memories of my life thus far, and I was surrounded with a team of healthcare professionals who looked after me, and ultimately opened the door for me to become who I am today. This is why this donation holds a special place in my heart and in the journey of my organization.
During my time in Calgary, I was blessed to be gifted numerous items and access to resources from organizations which I will remember forever. However, the more time I spent in transplant, the more it dawned on me that the organizations I encountered never catered specifically to sickle cell patients.
On Wednesday, December 16, 2020, NJY was privileged to make our first large-scale contribution to a hospital unit for individuals affected by sickle cell. Six months later, we are back at it again! In celebration of World Sickle Cell Day, and in accordance with NotJustYou’s mission, we donated $1000 to the Sickle Cell patients undergoing Bone Marrow Transplants and in/out Sickle Cell patients and families on the Hematology-Oncology unit at the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary! Once again, this donation is only a small part of our vision for the lives that we want to positively influence, yet, we firmly believe that the impact of this donation to the individuals who will benefit from it, is priceless.
It was truly an honour to gift the unit this token, and work with Dr. Tony Truong, Dr. Greg Guilcher and Ellen Kennedy to make this happen. Months before my transplant five years ago, I met with Dr. Truong and our conversation about the process of the transplant and the procedures I would undergo was the only thing up until that point that calmed my anxiety and made me feel confident that I would make it through. Dr. Guilcher was also my meticulous, attentive transplant doctor, who worked alongside my nurse, Ellen, to make those 100 days of isolation feel much more bearable. A special thank you goes out to both Wendy Pelletier and Wendy Solomchuk, the social workers who helped make this day possible!
The money that was donated will be going towards purchasing various gift cards for the sickle cell patients and their families in the hospital! We also had the pleasure to gift some Warrior Bags to the unit as well!
Watching the fruit of a unified community come alive is beyond exciting and we look forward to continuing this sickle cell advocacy journey!