This short video is a collage of images collected during one morning’s visit to The Children’s. While it is only just a glimpse of what is seen by our caregivers on a daily basis, it is a reminder of what we are striving for, and of who we are working for.

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On February 19, 2009, Toni happily heads off to school. During recess, she is pushed by a classmate, falls and hurts her knee. She hobbles home. This would be the beginning of quite an ordeal…

Emilie first “blacked out” during a boat ride with her family. The short trip from St-Jean-Port-Joli to the casino in Charlevoix would eventually take them on a totally unexpected course.

In 1999, when he was just four years old, Marc Normandeau was diagnosed with leukemia. He underwent treatments at The Children’s and recovered quickly. Until March 2008, he had been in remission and in perfect health for nine years. While Marc and his family were on vacation in Disney World, Marc became sick.

No one could have predicted that Mackenzie, with her boudless energy, would be faced with the daily challenge of living with Type 1 diabetes from the tender age of 4. This is the story of a delightful child who is facing life with wisdom and courage...

Five-year-old Jacob was not always a Spiderman fan. His adoration for the superhero began only moments before undergoing his first brain surgery, which would last nearly 12 hours. Before he entered the operating room, his doctors gave him the nickname Spiderman because, as they explained to Jacob, he was "as strong as Spiderman, maybe even stronger!"

On the evening of May 29, 2007, 14-year-old Frédéric Lamarche headed out on his scooter to pick up a friend. He never arrived. Almost two weeks later, Frédéric woke up in the Intensive Care Unit at The Montreal Children's Hospital...

Although he’s now five months old, Blake has only just reached the weight of a newborn. And even though he still has a lot of catching up to do, Blake is used to fighting; he has been fighting since the moment he was born.

When children and adolescents are faced with the challenges of chronic or life-threatening illness, they not only tackle the physical and emotional suffering that accompanies their struggle, they also deal with having to miss some of what should be the most formative years of their life. Fifteen-year-old Christophe Robichaud knows this sacrifice all too well. Not only has he recently begun catching up with friends he has not seen in years, he is currently making up for three years of missed school. In spite of these setbacks, Christophe certainly does not lack any maturity. In fact, as his mom describes him, he is ''a noble spirit in a boy’s body".

Steven suffers from type 1 neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that can cause tumours to develop in different parts of his body. At the age of seven, two brain tumours were detected. Thanks to his courage and the specialized care he received at the Children’s, it is with great victory that Steven Croucher will participate in this years Pedal for Kids event.

Three-year-old Lukas has two heroes: his parents, Marie-Claude Coulombe and Eric Panagis. For him they wage a daily battle, finding strength and hope alongside the teams of Drs. Emmet Francoeur and Shuvo Ghosh, two of just five Canadian pediatricians certified by the American Board of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics.

Émilie was three years old when Dr. Jean-Pierre Farmer, neurosurgeon at the Children’s, diagnosed a malignant brain tumour. Four days after this devastating news, Dr. Farmer was able to remove the tumour. But the battle was not over yet. Forty anesthesias were necessary to administer chemotherapy and radiation treatments, as well as four blood transfusions, interminable days and nights at the Children’s and too many needles to count. The good news today is that Émilie has been in remission for two years and goes to school like other kids her age. There is reason for hope.

Xavier was four years old when he met Dr. Sam Daniel at the Children’s. Since birth, Xavier suffered from profound deafness in both ears because of a very rare genetic malformation: because a bone had formed instead of his tympani, sound could not be conducted through his ears to his brain. To help Xavier, the only solution was to install a BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid) prosthetic, a solution that required many surgeries, lots of courage, and of course, the financial support of Mr. and Mrs. Arduini, the generous donors who allowed Dr. Daniel to start his BAHA prosthetic implantation program.