Kristin Crowe introduced our speaker, Cassandra Bonn who many members will recall was an active Rotary member 8 -9 years ago and stepped away for a while and is now back and attending Satellite Club meetings.  Cassandra is a marketing professional who has started, built and sold her own business and is now at Quinte Broadcasting. She is married to Kris Bonn of Bonn Law and they have two children, Grace and Fraser.  Cassandra loves golf and running marathons.  Cassandra is going to share her personal story and speak about the Quinte Children’s Treatment Centre and its playground project.  It is something she is passionate about. Welcome, Cassandra.
 
Cassandra greeted everyone and indicated it was nice to be back to Rotary.  Her story today is a very personal one. It’s about her son, Fraser. Cassandra provided some background. When she was 25 years old, she got married while living in Toronto and eventually moved to Trenton with her husband, Kris. They wanted to start a family. Unfortunately, she got shocking news at the age of 27 that she had premature ovarian failure and her doctor told her that she would have to adopt or have eggs donated. She tried in vitro fertilization –her cousin donated her eggs. After tens of thousands of dollars, she miscarried. It was a devastating blow. Right then and there they decided to adopt and to pursue private adoption. There was 3 months of paperwork, doctor referrals, blood work, fingerprint testing and even essay writing on various topics. After submitting the final paperwork, things happened fast and in a week they got a call, in another week they were interviewed by a young couple, and a few days later they were chosen as the parents. Five months later, Grace was born. When Grace was 2 and a half, Cassandra and Kris decided to go down the adoption path again. But this time, it seemed to take a really long time. When Grace was nearly 3 and half, they almost gave up, and then they got the call again. A baby was to be born in 4 weeks. Their son, Fraser had a traumatic birth and was put in neonatal ICU for observation.  Cassandra says they felt very lucky to have adopted a healthy girl and boy, both at birth. They were happy they now had a family.
 
Over time Cassandra slowly started to observe some things about Fraser.  At 3 months he wasn’t using his right hand, only his left. At 8 months while he was eating in his high chair he would keep his right arm down, and he was crawling most with his left. Their family noticed but as parents, they brushed it off. At 10 months they took Fraser to the doctor and then were referred to a pediatrician. Cassandra   remembers walking into the office that day. Six people were there to observe Fraser. It was unexpected! There was some testing to investigate, a referral for an MRI and a suggestion to start therapy right away.That day Cassandra learned about the Quinte Children’s Treatment Centre (CTC) at Belleville General Hospital. She never even knew it existed before. This is an amazing facility that services the entire Quinte region. After an MRI, it was confirmed that Fraser had Cerebral Palsy. Cassandra didn’t even know what that meant. Cerebral Palsy is the result of a brain injury or a brain malformation.  The majority of Cerebral Palsy cases result from abnormal brain development or brain injury prior to birth or during labor and delivery. Cerebral Palsy causes physical impairment. It affects body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. It can also impact fine motor skills, gross motor skills and oral motor functioning. An individual with Cerebral Palsy will likely show signs of physical impairment. However, the type of movement dysfunction, the location and number of limbs involved, as well as the extent of impairment, will vary from one individual to another. It can affect arms, legs, and even the face; it can affect one limb, several, or all. While Kris and Cassandra did hit the adoption jackpot, they were now faced with a parent’s biggest fears of a child having a disability.
 
They started taking Fraser to therapy 2 to 3 times per week at the CTC. It didn’t feel much like therapy. It was more like play time but really, the staff were cleverly masking the therapy through play. Let’s face it…. therapy is hard work. While attending the CTC with Fraser, they learned that very often the CTC gets overlooked for funding. Not because the need doesn’t exist, just that there are lots of priorities throughout the entire hospital. When Kris turned 40, instead of having an elaborate birthday, he asked friends and family to help raise much needed funds for the CTC. They ran (some biked) approximately 50km around the Bay of Quinte. Just over $10,000 was raised. The funds purchased new equipment for the gymnasium, including padded slides, trampoline, tunnel and other items.
 
The CTC provides habilitation and rehabilitation, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, social work and medical services to children and youth with special needs. Last year, they saw over 1000 children from birth to 18 years of age from the Hastings and Prince Edward region, and these children have over 10,000 visits per year! Some of these children are the most vulnerable. Approximately 5 years ago, the therapist started talking about the needs of the Centre and ways to maximize therapy session. They had a goal of building an outdoor therapy centre – a playground – that would allow the therapists to provide therapy where kids truly want to be in the nice weather – outside. At the CTC, the goal is to assist each child and their family to reach their potential and to participate as fully as possible in the life of our community. The playground project will allow children the opportunity to just be kids. To play, to laugh, to grow.
 
Cassandra says Fraser is one of the lucky ones. While his challenges are present, it is mild compared to most. There are children that frequently attend the CTC for regular, intensive therapy sessions, some with very severe mobility issues.The Therapy Playground Project is an opportunity to extend therapy outside and into nature. A place where children want to be the most, but often can’t be due to their mobility issues. This facility will allow therapists to conduct their work with these kids in a real-world environment. And kids will get an opportunity to play and perhaps mask the real therapy taking place. And for some kids, this will be the only playground they will ever know. There are several accessible playground throughout Quinte. But this one is different. It is a truly fully accessible playground with an emphasis around the needs of the children for their therapeutic goals – each unique. Some children require different sensory experiences. Some require different terrain for their mobility aids – grass, concrete, rubberized surfaces to mimic the real world experiences. The playground has many different features – multiple therapy stations where children can work on many different aspects of their therapy. The playground also allows for individual sessions and group sessions to take place. It also allows parents, caregivers and siblings to attend and learn some of the tools and techniques. The new playground is located just outside of the new Sills Wing, in between the parking lot and the front of the building – to the furthest north, east side of the building.
 
Construction started in the fall and it is over 85% complete with the goal of opening officially in the spring. This is a $300,000 project, and through many generous donations, to date we have raised $240,000.  We need to raise the remaining $60,000. Cassandra says she knows that Rotary loves kids and that it is amazing what a community like ours can do.   She is truly humbled and thankful to know that together, we can make a difference. If you would like more information, please chat with her or Director of Development Jenn Mindle Barrett or Manager of the CTC Margo Russell-Bird.Cassandra thanked everyone for their time and said together, let’s help them play.
 
Judy McKnight thanked Cassandra for sharing her story and talked about the importance of supporting  the CTC.