HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-09-13, Page 6Ready to run
Aimee Leishman was an eager volunteer for the Terry Fox
Run this Sunday in Brussels. The eight-year-old daughter of
Allan and Waneta of RR5, Brussels, was diagnosed with
cancer as an infant.
No place to spend a birthday
Weighing just slightly above her birth weight, one-year-old
Aimee Leishman celebrated her birthday hooked to wires and
tubes in a room at London's Sick Children's Hospital in 1988.
PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1995.
8-year-old joins Terry's team for Brussels run
By Bonnie Gropp
Aimee Leishman of RR5, Brussels has, in her eight years,
endured more hardship and shown more courage than most of
us will ever be asked to.
The 1995 Brussels Terry Fox Run's Team Member, eight-
year-old Aimee is a chatty, charming Grade 2 student, who
speaks of hood tests and CAT scans, as other children would
talk about going school shopping.
Diagnosed with saccrocoxygeal teratoma, an abdominal
tumor, when she was an infant, Aimee, a daughter of Allan
and Waneta, travels to London's Children's
Hospital every six months to undergo tests. "They
take my blood and I have the pumper (blood
pressure)."
"She is getting used to the needles," Waneta
says. "We hold hands and count for as long as it
takes until they're finished."
More difficult for an exuberant youngster is the
CAT scan, which is done every two years. "She
has to lay still for 25 minutes. She's not allowed to
talk, fidget, sigh or even wiggle her toes, or they'll
have to start it over," says Waneta. "She's pretty
good. When we go to the hospital now, she knows
everything they will be doing and when it's done
he gets to go wherever she wants, which is usually
McDonald's for lunch."
While Aimee understands that these hospital
visits are because she was ill, it is her parents for
whom the pain of her first year and a half is sharp.
When the Leishman's second child (Aimee has
an older brother Jeremy, who is now 10 and a
younger sister Melissa, two) was born on Feb. 26,
1987, she had a visible lump at the base of her
spine. "They knew there was something wrong
right from the start," Waneta says.
Aimee was taken to Sick Children's when she
was only five-days -old, but it was three months
before they operated.
"That was the soonest
they could get her in
to see what was going
on."
The lump, which
was removed, turned
out to be the
undeveloped cell of a
twin that Aimee had
absorbed.
Following the
surgery the relieved
family thought
everything was
behind them. Then
one month later it
became clear that
Aimee was not well.
"She wasn't gaining
weight or progressing
the way she should.
She laid and looked.
And she never cried," said Waneta.
Aimee was once again admitted to the London
hospital where it was discovered that a hormonal
tumor was blocking her bladder and bowels. The
tumor, Waneta explains, was caused by an altering
of the hormone levels as a result of Aimee
absorbing her twin.
A biopsy of the growth then proved what doctors
had already suspected — the tumor was malignant,
and for little Aimee, a lengthy battle was beginning. She
started chemotherapy in September 1987 and stopped the
following June. In addition she had five abdominal surgeries,
the final one, just eight days before she turned one, took five
hours.
On her first birthday, the little girl, who had weighed 7 lbs.,
1 oz. at birth, had increased her weight by less than one pound.
While Aimee was a little trooper, never crying despite the
painful tumor, seeing the tiny child suffer was obviously
difficult for her family. "You never knew when you were
going to be home or at the hospital. We would bring her home
and think she was alright and then she'd get sick and we'd go
back again," Waneta remembers.
It was traumatic as well for Jeremy, who at the age of two,
could neither comprehend his sister's illness, nor communicate
his concerns to his pre-occupied parents. Though Allan made
a point of spending as many of his evenings as possible with
his son, Jeremy spent a good deal of time with his
grandparents.
For Waneta it was like being torn in two. "I couldn't leave
Aimee and to have Jeremy come down and stay wasn't fair.
The children there were so sick and there was nothing for him
to do."
Waneta says the hospital now has a day care on site so that
siblings of sick children may be close to their parents.
Though Aimee has been "well" for seven years, Waneta
says the illness did take its toll. She wears a hearing aid due to
damage caused by the chemotherapy treatments. Also, having
essentially lost two years of her life, she is at a six year level
in a lot of her comprehension. "She was three before she
walked and four before she honestly said, 'I want a cookie'.
She has worked very hard to get to this point," says Waneta.
"Anyone who says they wish their baby would stay a baby
forever just doesn't know what they're saying."
Today Aimee is busy and outgoing. "She never looks at
something like she can't do it," says her mother.
"We feel very lucky to have Aimee; she was so very sick for
so very long."
Recalling
Aimee's first
year and the
people who
cared still has an
emotional toll
for Waneta. Her
eyes fill as she
recalls the
support of
friends, and of
her parents and
Allan's, all of
whom she says,
they could never
have made it
without.
Another
person who has
become dear is
Aimee's doctor,
Beth Caimey.
"She is a wonderful doctor whom we love to pieces. She's like
an extended part of the family."
It is undeistandable that the Leishmans have been active
supporters of the Terry Fox Run. In addition to her entire
family participating every year since 1989, with the exception
of two years that she was ill, Aimee has been a team leader
twice before for the Wingham run. When she heard that a
team member was needed for Brussels, she eagerly
volunteered. "It's fun," she says.
"I'm glad she volunteered," says Waneta. "It wouldn't be the
same run if someone didn't give it a personal aspect."
The importance of Terry Fox's vision is not lost on the
Leishmans, who will never give up their personal fight to see
cancer beaten. "I want people to understand that the fear of
(cancer) doesn't go away. Everytime Aimee goes for a
checkup we're always afraid. No matter how often we look at
her and see how healthy she is, that fear, that this can change
in a heart beat, is there."
Wingham hospital board meets
By Jim Brown
Wingham and District Hospital
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Lloyd Koch told the Sept. 7
meeting of the hospital board that
they had received a few more
inquiries from physicians looking
for a new town.
However, none of these leads
concluded with a doctor deciding to
move here. The recruitment
committee met Monday.
Koch said it is time to include
representation from Wingham town
council and industry if appropriate
representatives can be identified.
The board later approved the
appointment of Dr. Paul Watson to
the hospital's courtesy staff, for the
emergency room. A graduate of the
University of Calgary, he is
presently at the University of
Western Ontario. His specialty is
internal medicine.
The CEO reported that the
consultants report on the proposed
medical clinic has been completed,
and will be discussed at the
resources committee meeting on
Sept. 21.
Koch said that over the summer
he was asked to sit on an Ontario
Hospital Association (OHA)
committee that was reviewing the
proposed changes to the Hospital
Labour Disputes Arbitration Act,
so that a letter could be sent to the
new Minister of Health.
He added that the task was
accomplished and included input
on changes to the Labour Relations
Act. The OHA will be considering
proposed amendments to the way
the Workers' Compensation Board
is run.
"One of the points I pushed for
that did get included in the letter to
the Minister of Labor was the
request taat the whole process of
arbitration should be speeded up
with time limits for arbitrators to
issue their awards," said Koch.
He noted that in the past, some
awards took more than a year
between the time the hearing was
held and the arbitrator issued his
award.
"Our experience here at our own
hospital has been that our RPNs
had their first contract arbitration
hearing on June 12, and no word
has yet been received on the
decision," said the CEO.
Koch noted that the application
for certification of this union was
received prior to his arrival in
1992.
"I believe that this process should
be speeded up through the
requirements of legislation in this
province," said Koch.
The CEO said the hospital staff is
beginning to develop the necessary
committees in preparation for
accreditation next year. He said
they expect to be surveyed in
September 1996, but the exact date
Continued on page 7
Reception & Open House \it,.
00/ to follow
Grand Opening
of
NEW BRUSSELS
FIREHALL
Saturday, Sept. 16
at 3 p.m.
Everyone 'Welcome
Official