April 27 is the second birthday of a very special little man named Wyatt. I first heard of Wyatt in November and I was very moved to actually meet him and his mom just a few weeks ago. Wyatt has spent the last 11 months in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit. He has spent all but one night of his brave life at Sickkids Hospital. His mom, Lisa Celsie, has been by his side throughout, loving him, helping care for him, working with staff and riding a rollercoaster of hope, incredible medical challenge and personal sacrifice. Aunt Laura Celsie and the family have held toy drives and a golf fundraiser and are now working with a director of CCCU on a new program that will help staff support long stay children in the CCCU. Today is a huge milestone for Wyatt and his aunt Laura will surprise him with a birthday cake of his favorite movie, Madagascar.
Laura Celsie describes Wyatt as "an amazingly strong and brave little boy who has a smile that would light up any room, and has taught us more about life, love and strength than anyone else I have ever met in my life... Now we are just enjoying life with him, and teaching him new things, and trying to get them home. He enjoys pudding, both eating it and painting with it, and loves cheesecake. He plays with a bedfull of balls, and just this week got to go outside for the first time in over a year,” says Celsie. He blows kisses. “These are really little things, but when you see what we’ve been through, they’re big things."
In February, Lisa was told there were no more medical options for Wyatt and so they are working with CCCU to bring Wyatt home. This week he has been fighting pneumonia and has been uncomfortable as he is weaned from IV to oral morphine. Bloorview has been working on a trolley for his ventilator, oxygen, feeding pump, suction machine and oximeter and now he can spend up to 9 hours on a trach mask with a flexible oxygen hookup.
The family has been busy getting his story out and raising awareness about congenital heart defects (CHDs). You can see Wyatt in Metro and on the front cover in Durham. Here is a link to his totsites journal. Wyatt's story has also been on TV: here is news about the toy drive (see at 8 min 45 seconds) and interviews with Laura and Dr Steven Schwartz, CCCU Head (see at 24 mins).
Wyatt's Warriors are in the full swing of preparations for the Golf Tournament to raise funds for a new training program in the CCCU and I have posted Laura's invitation as well below. This families journey deeply moves me. If you are a golfer, please consider joining them in June for a day on the links and hopefully some details of the CCCU program. The Sasha Bella Fund is very excited by this ICU initiative and grateful for the opportunity to tell you about Wyatt.
Happy second birthday Wyatt!
Thank you so much for posting this Jonathan! We had fun yesterday, and Wyatt FULLY enjoyed his cake! I will try to get pictures on his totsote today.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for helping us get the word out there, I know that together, we are going to make a huge difference!