Making Lemonade

The most significant driver for creating this web-site is my desire to make lemonade out of lemons.   

I’ve never lingered over the question “Why us?” for more than a second.  Not because I wouldn’t like an answer, but because I’ve always thought “why
NOT us?”  Deep down, I believe that there isn’t likely an answer that would make this journey any easier.  The question I HAVE asked myself
is:  “what do I do with this?”  I frequently wonder, sometimes out loud, what I’m supposed to learn from this and how I can use this learning
to help someone else who might be going through something similar.

In my Blog, Life Today, I’ll share the day-to-day experiences and thoughts that occur.  There’s something
very special about learning that someone else can closely relate to what are your experiences or feelings.  I believe that our lives are about
growth and I’ve observed that growth sprouts out of adversity.  We all experience adversity in our lives and I think that the best coping mechanisms
aren’t dependent on the type of adversity we face.

In the tab, Book Excerpts, I will share draft excerpts of books I’m writing. One of the books is a memoir
documenting the first 9 months of our 11-year journey with life-threatening illnesses. A second book is intended to share parallels between
managing success in a career and achieving success along a personal challenge. I also want to write a handbook for Residents that gives them approaches
to working with families as critical partners in their family member’s care.

In the section, Presentations,
I intend to share some of the slides from presentations I’ve made to care providers (Children’s Hospital in London, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation
Hospital in Toronto, and community services in Guelph and Waterloo) and London Health Sciences Centre’s leaders.  I joined the Family Advisory
Council at Children’s Hospital in 2007 with a desire to use my experiences to support the Hospital in their efforts to improve the quality of family-centred
care for other families.  It was my first public act, after my daughter’s diagnosis, that was aligned with my desire to make lemonade.