My husband Andrew and I are proud parents of three beautiful children. We have a dog and some chickens too so our house is busy! The kids are seven, five and three so we are always doing something – running to activities, preparing food, doing homework, playing – the usual things.

We’re thankful for those usual things. And we’re thankful to CHEO. Because of the specialized care we have received, all of those ‘usual things’ are possible. Because of the continuous care and support, our son Wyatt is with us today.

Medically, Wyatt is unique. From birth, Wyatt has been unable to open his mouth and has needed specialized care that only CHEO could provide. In fact, Wyatt lived at CHEO for the first three months of his life. His first days were measured in CT scans, MRIs, and feeding tubes while his medical team worked hard to find a diagnosis. As you can imagine, it has not always been an easy road.

Wyatt is an active little boy. He loves to climb, give hugs and adores going to the park with his siblings. He can’t run just yet but he’s definitely motivated to learn. He kind of moves in a quick waddle or a wide stride.

Either is cute and gets the necessary effect: smiles!

Because of Wyatt’s condition his smile isn’t as obvious to those who don’t know him. To those that do recognize when he smiles, it’s infectious. That’s the thing about our little boy, despite his medical challenges he is smiling…in his own way.

His disorder is called brainstem dysgenesis, which essentially means he can’t open his mouth or swallow and can barely utter words. Wyatt is fed 100 percent through a g-tube which is a small hole in his stomach in which a feeding tube pushes a liquid diet that we prepare for him daily at home. His little backpack doesn’t hold books; it holds his feeding device.

Donor support to CHEO helps our family. In Wyatt’s three short years, he has been admitted to CHEO over 40 times. I don’t know how many nights we’ve spent there but in our times of need CHEO has been there for us, and community support makes a real difference. I have seen it first-hand.

Wyatt is often admitted due to complications of his condition. A common cold or stomach bug can be life threatening. Because he can’t open his mouth there is always a risk of aspirated pneumonia or even respiratory arrest. This fear is our reality.

We have had to perform CPR on Wyatt three times. My husband has literally saved his life while the ambulance was on route to our home. I can barely put in to words how scary it is to stand and watch your husband breathing air into your son. We never know when we might have to do this.

But, CHEO is always there to help us. It’s our safety net, a second home. We are thankfully followed by the complex care program. It’s a program for patients that need services from numerous departments in the hospital. It helps to simplify the process of juggling so many appointments.

You see, Wyatt needs care from the complex care program but also from physiotherapy, neurology, speech language therapy, the ears nose and throat (ENT) clinic, dentistry, genetics and ophthalmology. I feel like Wyatt has a huge extended family at CHEO. Just this past Mother’s Day we gave his primary care physician, Dr. Kheirie Issa, a ‘Dr. Mom’ card. That’s how much Wyatt trusts his family at CHEO. We are all part of the team that helps him thrive and develop.

Please consider joining the team by making a gift to CHEO now.

I never dreamed I would know the words saturation, suction, tracheostomy, g-tube and so many more with such understanding. I never thought I would ever learn sign language to communicate with my child. There have been tough days for sure but as I’ve said, CHEO and support from caring people like you help my family breathe a little easier.

My sincere thanks,

Amy Miville (and Andrew Scott, Aila, Wyatt, Jude and Zoe the dog)