WHY I donate
Service with a Smile BY Trent Lindberg
Giving back to kids is just returning the favour for this Stollery donor and oilfield company operator
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the medical care provided to our youth by the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Having grown up in small-town Alberta, I took health care for granted. That is until my wife and I had kids of our own, and one of them got very sick. My name is Trent Lindberg. My wife Twyla and I and our kids, Brendan, Donovan, Kaylee, and Becca, live in the B.C. Peace Country near Dawson Creek. Sixteen years ago we visited the Stollery for our first time with our oldest son, Brendan, for work to be done on his heart. It would be far from our last visit there. We first learned that Brendan had aortic stenosis, which means that he has an aortic valve that does not function correctly, during a routine checkup when he was just three months old. Since we live in B.C. we had a choice of going to the Stollery Children’s Hospital or to BC Children’s Hospital. I grew up in Alberta, so we decided on the Stollery – and we are so glad that we did. I had practically never been in a hospital in my life, so it was quite a traumatic experience; but the staff make you feel at home and the confidence level with which they all work is very reassuring. The quality of care was top-notch – starting right through reception with Edie and Cindy, to the cleaning staff, to the cardiac ward – everyone in the whole system did his or her job cheerfully and professionally. There is an underlying confidence given off by nurses and doctors that set us parents at ease, making our hospital stays as bearable as could be expected. The intensive care nurses who attended to us after my son’s open-heart surgery gave us a level of care that was completely unexpected – and has never since been duplicated. Brendan’s now 17, graduating from high school this year, and with extra credits, he has already started his path to be a power engineer. To look at him, you would never know there was a problem with his heart – strength-wise and body-wise he looks like a normal teenager, but his heart was just inherently a problem from the start. I will never forget the time that Brendan’s doctor, Dr. Coe, called us personally when Brendan had a blood infection – on his own time and from his own cellphone, saying, “Call me when you get to Edmonton and I will be there at check-in to take you in.” We live in a small town, and our doctors here don’t even know your name. Then you have the Stollery, where there are thousands of people going through, and people really care. It makes us feel proud to be part of it and be able to experience it. When Brendan was at the Stollery for his blood infection about two 36
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LIFE-ALTERING: Brendan Lindberg, 17, is living his life much like any other teen thanks to life-saving care at the Stollery.
PHOTO: COURTESY TWYLA LINDBERG
LBERTA RESIDENTS SHOULD BE PROUD OF
years ago, we decided we wanted to give back. Our goal is to give back what Brendan’s procedures cost. To give you an idea, he’s had several arterial catheters put in and an open-heart surgery when he was nine. Right now we are just doing it in little bits and pieces, a little at a time. I work in oilfield services supplying water, so for every cubic metre of water we sell, we give a dollar away. That’s how we do our part. With that money, we try and support the things that benefit youth; that’s why we give to the Stollery, among other local children’s causes. We feel privileged that we can give back to such a good cause, to people who really helped us out in our time of need. If we were somewhere else in this country or in another country altogether, Brendan would have likely passed away more than 10 years ago, so we want to give back because we appreciate the life-altering service the Stollery provided and continues to provide. S TO L L E RY C H I L D R E N ’ S H O S P I TA L F O U N DAT I O N
2015-01-27 10:56 AM