“The moment our son was born he was starting to die.”
Those are pretty impactful words coming from Brent Tremblay.
His son Simeon was born with a rare heart defect, but he says the care at the North Bay hospital made a huge difference, and helped save his life.
“When they found him his oxygen levels were down to 25% so he was almost gone when they found him,” said Tremblay.
Their young son, who is now a healthy 16-year-old, was quickly airlifted to CHEO in Ottawa.
Since then he’s had eight major operations, five catheter operations on the heart, and three open heart surgeries.
But throughout all this surgeries, Simeon realizes none of those surgeries would have happened if North Bay doctors and nurses didn’t recognize his serious health problem shortly after he was born.
“They kept me alive I think that’s the main factor,” said Simeon.
“They are helping kids like me but they are also helping a ton of other kids who have gone through worse.”
Because of that local treatment, the Tremblay family used their local vending business, SimJim Treats, as a means to raise money for the Hospital Foundation. Tremblay says so far they have given about $45,000 towards the cause.
The Tremblay’s were special guests for the Hospital Foundation’s Community Fundraising Launch which took place at Parkers Your Independent Grocer this morning.
The event included a $5,000 cheque presentation from the grocery store from money raised through the store’s Thank You Flag sales.
Donor Apathy?
Despite the major announcement recently that more than 150 jobs will be cut at the hospital, CEO Paul Heinrich doesn’t believe foundation fundraising will be impacted due to those cuts.
“I would think the community which has always been very generous would see that we need them more than ever to get behind us in a variety of ways,” said Heinrich.
“I understand there is anxiety and frustration in the community at the same time we are always going to rise above it as a community and pull together when the times are tough.”
Donor Projects
The fundraising priorities at the hospital foundation include a $1.25 M Central Fetal Monitoriing System for Labour and Deliver, $600,000 for a six bed Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit and $190,000 for a GreenLight laser to treat enlarged prostates.
