Worth Every Penny

I always come away from our Radiothon for McMaster Children's Hospital wishing that we could have done more. We got past our total from last year - but we would have actually been pretty close to the same number, had it not been for Taylor DeCoste - a young boy on a mission to help the hospital which has helped him so much over the years. Taylor went out and got the backing of Wal-Mart for a project he headed up called Change Bandits, and - together with the Retail Giant - managed to add $41,438 to our Radiothon totals. Amazing kid, Taylor. I was privileged to meet him last Friday. If you take away Taylor's efforts, we would only have been about 5,000 dollars above our total raised from last year, so we owe Taylor and Wal-Mart a deep debt of gratitude for making us look so good.

Because of the great care and expertise McMaster hospital's staff used to take care of my wife when she arrived there in October of 2005, at risk of giving birth at 28 weeks, and even more incredible care and expertise to help bring our twins, Liam and Morgan, into the world, our Radiothon for Mac Kids will always hold a strong personal meaning to me, and I consider Dr. Peter Steer, his wife Glenys, and Foundation employees Pati, Marg, Colleen and Angel - my friends. We hug when see each other. I also couldn't possibly have stronger feelings for the woman who was our primary care nurse, LouAnn Elliott. She looked after our babies when they arrived in the best Level 3 NICU in the world at MacKids. I saw her Wednesday, and we can't help but shed a couple of happy tears at the sight of each other. It's like seeing a member of your family after a long time away. She's a wonderful person - but also wonderful at her job. 

So -

307,000 thank you's to everyone who helped make our Radiothon for MacKids - our first under our new Astral banner, and our fifth overall - another resounding and astounding success. You're a very generous bunch, and you obviously recognize how 'worth it' it is to keep this fantastic hospital - a leading children's hospital - leading the way right here from our very own backyard.