Vancouver Sun

STORIES OF HOPE

Children’s Hospital the setting of many stories of hope and healing, Denise Ryan reports.

- dryan@postmedia.com

B.C. Children’s Hospital changed their lives

Madeline Lauener spent some of the worst days of her life at B.C. Children’s Hospital. Now, she can’t wait to go back.

The 19-year-old has an enduring connection with the hospital where her life was saved. Like so many former patients, the memories of the most difficult time in her life are interwoven with gratitude and a desire to give back. So, when the B.C. Women and Children’s hospitals redevelopm­ent team asked Lauener to tell her story as it prepares to open its new Teck Acute Care Centre next month, she didn’t hesitate.

During an interview with Postmedia, Lauener told of her journey from healthy, active Grade 7 student to cancer patient. Lauener’s first signs of illness were a high fever and fatigue, but those symptoms didn’t raise alarms until the unusual swelling of a lymph node in her neck. Her mother took her to the emergency room at B.C. Children’s Hospital.

Lauener was admitted to hospital. After weeks of tests, a diagnosis was confirmed: non-Hodgkins anaplastic large cell lymphoma, ALCL for short, an aggressive blood cancer. “My parents and I were very surprised. I was in shock.”

Lauener stayed in hospital another month for chemothera­py.

The straight-A student met the treatment with determinat­ion. Lauener said she just wanted to get it done, go back to school and put the whole ordeal behind her.

“In April of 2012, I finished and the PET scan said there was no cancer.”

The relief was short-lived. Just over a month later, Lauener noticed a lymph node swelling on her face. A biopsy revealed the cancer had returned. The second diagnosis shook her. This time she knew the physical toll that chemothera­py would take.

“It was emotionall­y very upsetting because now I knew what I was going to have to go through, and I was going to have to go back to the hospital and miss six months or more of school.”

She also needed a stem-cell transplant. “I had to do what was called super-chemothera­py and radiation until they got my immune system down to zero.”

Although a stem cell transplant takes only a few minutes, Lauener would have to remain in isolation at B.C. Children’s until her immune system could be rebuilt.

Lauener was lucky: her sister was a perfect match. She had no issues with rejection after the transplant but her compromise­d immune system meant she couldn’t socialize with other patients. The nurses became her lifeline, even setting up a betting pool with a giant chart on the wall to track her blood counts and wager on her release date.

Lauener won the bet. She was home before Christmas. “That was wonderful.”

By March, she was able to return to school. Throughout the process, Lauener had maintained her 4.0 grade point average, and won multiple academic awards. She also made a decision about her future — she wants to be a pediatric oncologist. “I feel like the perspectiv­e I have will help me help others.”

Lauener, now a 19-year-old premed student at SFU, just finished a summer working in research at B.C. Children’s Hospital studying graft versus host disease, or rejection after transplant, and she will work there again next summer.

The direction she has chosen is inseparabl­e from her journey as a patient.

“I would like to be a doctor one day, at B.C. Children’s Hospital, in the same spot where I was treated.”

Like Lauener, former patient Jillian Walker has been contemplat­ing ways to give back. The opening of the hospital’s new Teck Acute Care Centre gave her the perfect opportunit­y to revisit the site where she endured a 12hour surgery as a teenager, and to contemplat­e how she could reach out to others.

The 33-year-old bears a scar on her back that runs from the base of her neck to the base of her spine. It’s something she doesn’t try to hide.

When she was 13, Walker was helping out her mom, then a branch manager at CIBC on Salt Spring Island, at a bank fundraiser when a complete stranger tapped her on the shoulder. “She said, ‘I think you have scoliosis. You need to talk to your mother.’”

That conversati­on led to a visit to a GP, who referred them to B.C. Children’s. Walker was diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that can progress rapidly and lead to pressure on the organs and in some cases restrict oxygen intake. Her mother encouraged her to take the diagnosis in stride: “She said you have this, we are going to deal with it, but you are going to go on and live your life.”

The first course of action was an uncomforta­ble body brace she was instructed to wear 23 hours a day — a tough assignment for a 13-year-old.

“Having the brace sucked. I remember being so frustrated with it in the middle of the day I would take it off, jam it in my back pack,” said Walker.

Even with the body brace, the scoliosis progressed and it became clear Walker would need spinal surgery. Again, her mother set the tone. Walker had a sister with cerebral palsy, who also faced surgeries. This was just another challenge, and they would manage it — with the hospital’s help.

“B.C. Children’s Hospital was a place we went to where we knew we would be safe. It was a place we respected. We knew, even as kids, that B.C. Children’s helps people.”

The 12-hour spinal fusion was successful.

Recovery took time, but regular checkups and follow-through from Children’s Hospital helped.

Graduating into adult care has been more challengin­g.

“I underestim­ated how this would affect me going forward into adult life. Over time you learn what works in your life with spinal fusion surgery,” said Walker.

“In transition­ing out of Children’s, even finding a GP or finding someone who can consult on scoliosis has been very challengin­g.”

It took Walker — who had a spinal fusion hook knocked out of place in a tobogganin­g accident — years to find a scoliosis surgeon who would help her after she moved to Alberta to go to school.

She finally resorted to sending a spam email to as many specialist­s as she could. The only one who answered was a doctor who had known her surgeon at Children’s Hospital. He advised her to take a proactive approach to pain management through physical exercise, including strength training.

Now Walker, a talent recruiter with Relic Entertainm­ent, a Vancouver gaming company owned by Sega, is committed to living her best life through exercise and positivity, “doing the right thing, giving back and being active.”

Since moving back to the Lower Mainland, Walker has had more difficulti­es finding a scoliosis surgeon to help her. Although her GP gave her a referral, she has not been able to get a consultati­on with a scoliosis surgeon here in B.C.

“I have a piece in my back that juts out. It’s a structural issue that needs to be looked at. Even with that and with chronic pain, I was declined.”

Rather than being deflated, Walker is taking it on as another challenge. “If there are 12-year-old girls at Children’s Hospital who are going to get to my age and not be able to have follow-through, I want to help them. What’s missing is this link between how those patients migrate into the regular health care system.”

She attributes her positive outlook to the combinatio­n of her mother’s influence, and the care she received as a child at Children’s.

“I have scoliosis. It kind of sucks. But I’m not going to let it interfere with living my best life. It’s part of who I am.”

B.C. Children’s Hospital isn’t just a place for kids — parents sometimes remember more than the kids who were treated there.

Bradley Fockler, who also toured the new building, doesn’t remember much about the time he spent at B.C. Children’s Hospital — but one thing he does remember is that as a 16-year-old patient who was six feet tall, his feet hung over the edge of the bed.

His mother, Sue Fockler, remembers every detail of the critical illness that almost took her son’s life.

Nine years ago, Brad was a high school student and an avid hockey player. After a hockey practice on Thanksgivi­ng weekend in 2007, he wasn’t feeling well. “He was very fatigued, and there was nothing in particular but he was tired,” said Sue.

Brad decided to skip a family Thanksgivi­ng dinner on Bowen Island. That was enough of a red flag that Sue decided to stay home in North Vancouver as well. He slept on and off, and had only a slight fever, but after awaking from a nap he was irritable and “talking nonsense,” said Sue.

Suddenly he began to experience a massive seizure. “He was sitting there one minute, then he was gone, that was it.”

By the time paramedics arrived, Fockler was delirious and thrashing. “They were trying to get him into a wheelchair. He punched a paramedic, he was violent and screaming.” Paramedics got control and rushed him to Lions Gate Hospital. Although he didn’t have the typical symptoms of meningitis, such as rash and neck stiffness, a doctor on duty had a hunch and decided to do a lumbar extraction. Meningitis and encephalit­is were confirmed.

His mother describes the experience as intense and frightenin­g. At one point, he stopped breathing and had to be put on a respirator. Because his situation was so precarious, B.C. Children’s Hospital sent a special team to pick Fockler up and bring him to Children’s.

During the ambulance ride, the physician in the transport vehicle told Fockler’s mother that he personally had survived meningitis. “It was so dire. We didn’t know if he was going to make it at that point. That gave me hope,” said Sue.

For 72 hours, Fockler’s condition was critical, said Sue. He was put into an induced coma.

Fockler wasn’t responding to antibiotic­s. Finally, after lab results showed the infection was viral, antibiotic­s were stopped and he began responding to anti-viral medication­s.

“It looked pretty grim,” said Fockler. “They told my parents there was a low chance that I would make a full recovery. It was pretty hard for my parents at the time.”

“The neurologis­t told us to prepare for the worst,” said Sue. The whole family slept in a room outside Brad’s ICU room.

“Just knowing everybody was doing everything they could, we felt they were looking after the family. There were so many people there to help out. It was amazing. The physician that was on the transport, the paramedics kept coming by to see him.”

Sue recalls the kindness of one nurse in particular. “He was six feet tall, and the nurse saw his feet were hanging off the end of the bed in ICU. She went and found him one of the long beds, so he could be comfortabl­e.”

It was a small gesture, but it mattered.

It seemed like an eternity, but five days after being admitted, Fockler began to emerge from the coma. “I looked at him and asked him if he knew who I was,” said Sue. “He said: ‘of course I do, you’re my mom!’ ” Fockler made a full recovery. “I am forever grateful,” said Sue. “We were one of the lucky ones.”

 ??  ?? Madeline Lauener of Surrey was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins anaplastic lymphoma at 12, treated, relapsed and had a stem cell transplant at 14. Now cancer-free, she is in pre-med and hopes to return to B.C. Children’s Hospital as a pediatric oncologist....
Madeline Lauener of Surrey was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins anaplastic lymphoma at 12, treated, relapsed and had a stem cell transplant at 14. Now cancer-free, she is in pre-med and hopes to return to B.C. Children’s Hospital as a pediatric oncologist....
 ??  ?? Gillian Walker underwent a 12-hour surgery to treat scoliosis when she was a teenager. She has a sister with cerebral palsy. “We knew, even as kids, that B.C. Children’s helps people.”
Gillian Walker underwent a 12-hour surgery to treat scoliosis when she was a teenager. She has a sister with cerebral palsy. “We knew, even as kids, that B.C. Children’s helps people.”
 ??  ?? Bradley Fockler, with girlfriend Anne Proudfoot, was in a coma at B.C. Children’s when he was 16. A nurse made sure the six-footer got a long bed.
Bradley Fockler, with girlfriend Anne Proudfoot, was in a coma at B.C. Children’s when he was 16. A nurse made sure the six-footer got a long bed.
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? JASON PAYNE Gillian Walker has struggled finding care for scoliosis as an adult. “If there are 12-year-old girls at Children’s Hospital who are going to get to my age and not be able to have follow-through, I want to help them.”
JASON PAYNE Gillian Walker has struggled finding care for scoliosis as an adult. “If there are 12-year-old girls at Children’s Hospital who are going to get to my age and not be able to have follow-through, I want to help them.”

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