Dan and Nikki Isley wanted to do something a little different for their son’s birthday this year.
Ethan, who turned one on June 25, has Spina Bifida, and when his parents Dan and Nikki found this out before he was born, they chose to travel to the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital to have an utero surgery performed. Nikki said this surgery was not offered in Canada.
“In Canada they close the back after he (would) be born, but doing it in utero is starting to gain some attraction in the medical field (because) it has better outcomes,” she said continuing by saying that Ethan is not paralyzed and he is moving his legs good and they believe he will walk.
“We feel it was a good decision, and that he was one of the good outcomes,” she said.
When the couple was in Philadelphia, they were able to stay at the Ronald McDonald Children’s House. To celebrate Ethan’s first birthday, the family wanted to give back, but in a more local perspective, Nikki explained.
“A lot of stuff has happened in the last year, he has been in and out of the hospital, so we just decided we wanted to give back a little bit in a small way. To honour his first birthday, we are making up 23 gift baskets for the families that are staying at the (Southern Alberta) Ronald McDonald House in Calgary. We thought it would be nice to do something close to home,” she said.
She told The Mail that the family decided to make the gift baskets a little bigger than what they could do on their own and therefore opened it up to others who may want to help.
“We decided to open it up to the public and get donations. They have so far come together very nicely,” she said.
Nikki said the family is still accepting donations for the baskets which can include: toiletries, travel size board games, playing cards, crosswords/sudoku’s and socks or slippers. She also said cash donations will be accepted to help purchase fresh fruit and snacks and to help purchase gift cards for the families to go to a restaurant or to get gas for travelling.
Nikki said they will be accepting donations for the next couple of weeks until the baskets are full. Once full, the Isley family will deliver the baskets to Ronald McDonald House in Calgary.
To donate items for the baskets visit Ethan’s Journey on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ethanisleysjourney or call Nikki at 403-820-1330.
