Our stories

CHEO asked and you answered: fun ideas for self-care

To celebrate International Self Care Day on July 24, we asked our Instagram followers how they practice self-care! Self-care can be anything that helps your mental, emotional or physical health. It’s always important to take care of yourself, especially when you’re busy at work or school, dealing with stressful life situations or feeling down.

We received lots of great feedback. Here’s a snapshot of some things people do, and we want to share these ideas with you in case it inspires you.

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Dylan hears his mom

Sarah thought her youngest son Dylan was just quiet and reserved. He wasn’t a boy of many words.

When he was four and about to go into JK, Sarah, wanting to set him up for success, took him to a speech language therapist. The therapist suspected something, which triggered a referral to CHEO for a hearing test.

What they discovered blew Sarah away.

She had no idea Dylan was significantly hearing impaired. He had passed his infant hearing screening test. He had always been around people – his three...

A door for better care, simplicity and community

Whenever Abby MacMillan falls asleep, she stops breathing.

Imagine.

It’s why she was first admitted to CHEO’s ICU when she was five hours old.

It’s why for the next 18 years she and her family have returned to CHEO many, many times.

Abby’s mom, Teresa, never thought a door would improve things for her eldest daughter. In fact, doors and separation create anxiety. For Abby’s first months they slept side by side and to this day they still sleep with their doors open. “We need to be able to see, hear...

CHEO WE Club leads the way with dynamic accessibility symbol

On Friday, CHEO’s WE Club had a painting party.

This volunteer youth group — with a mandate to give back, locally and internationally — took over three parking spots at CHEO. They worked hard to raise funds for the stencils and supplies, and convinced CHEO that we should work with The Forward Movement to access the stencils with the new dynamic accessibility icon that they created.

In their invitation to the party, the WE Club wrote, “This logo proves that just because we have a disability does not...

Nunavut mom met nurses who held her dying daughter’s hand

Nina Kautuq (centre) and six-year-old son Jutanie survived a tent fire that claimed the rest of their family. Carolyn Roberts (left), Indigenous Nurse Navigator at The Ottawa Hospital, and Kerri-Lynn Whyte (right), a nurse at CHEO, worked together to reunite Nina with the doctor and nurses who cared for her three children.

Nina Kautuq’s body is still healing from the 2015 tent fire that claimed the lives of her husband and three of her four children. But her emotional healing finally began...