On an otherwise normal day last February, Lincoln’s Opa picked him up from the school bus stop at the end of the family’s long acreage driveway to give him a lift to the house. Tragically, his Opa suffered a heart attack behind the wheel and the car crashed into a tree. It was an absolutely devastating day for the family, as Lincoln suffered a serious head injury and multiple facial fractures and heartbreakingly, his Opa passed away.
Lincoln was rushed to the Alberta Children’s Hospital by ambulance where he had emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot, reinforce his skull with plates and give his injured brain room to swell. He was in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) until he was stable enough to move to Unit 4, where he began the long journey of rehabilitation. Lincoln needed to re-learn to walk, among other things, and was working closely with occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech language pathology. After 40 days, he got to go home, though he still came back to the hospital daily to continue his therapies and attend Gordon Townsend School.
This is when Emily’s Backyard became a very special part of Lincoln’s family’s journey. Emily’s Backyard is a free, child-minding service at the hospital where patients and siblings can go to play, allowing their parents to focus on important meetings with specialists. It also provides opportunities for therapeutic play, fun distraction from the medical journey and socialization. When coming to the hospital daily, his mom, Christina, would drop his younger brothers off at Emily’s Backyard to play while Lincoln had therapy. Even his littlest brother, Myles – just a baby at the time – would start to pull himself out of his car seat and reach his arms out for the friendly staff and volunteers he had come to love the moment he saw they were at Emily’s Backyard. And middle brother Connor started to ask each day, “Mom, did you book us into Emily’s Backyard?!”
It was so much fun that Lincoln wanted to go, too! So, as a reward for all the hard work he was doing in therapy, Lincoln would get to join his brothers there after his appointments each day. It was a special time for the boys, but it was equally meaningful for Christina. “It was amazing to have a little time each day for a breather,” she says. “Emily’s Backyard gave me the gift of time to visit with a social worker or process what we’d talked about at Lincoln’s appointment. And sometimes, it was the only time I had to finally respond to an email, read a bit of my book – really, just to give my mind a break.”
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For Christina’s family, Emily’s Backyard was truly a bright light in an otherwise dark chapter of their lives. The staff and volunteers have become a bit like extended family: “They have watched Myles grow up – from a baby to learning to scoot, stand and walk,” says Christina. She is perhaps most grateful for how Emily’s Backyard has shaped her kids’ perception of the hospital. “When we first came to the hospital, it was a place of heartache, but now it’s the opposite. The fact Emily’s Backyard has turned something scary into something safe and positive – somewhere they truly look forward to going – is amazing.”
