Say a prayer

My friend S. who you may remember from last July, is sitting in the Sick Kids ICU tonight at the bedside of her 11 year old son, N. He and Kaz are best friends, and today in class, it appears N. had another stroke, or perhaps a seizure, they aren't sure yet.

Kaz was sitting beside him, and he says, N. lost the feeling in his right hand, then lost the ability to speak, and started to cry. The teacher noticed, and got N. to the office and called an ambulance. He was rushed in to the ER and at first seemed to recover, then 2 hours later had another more serious stroke. He has had MRIs and EEGs, and CT scans tonight, and honestly, I can't help but think of Bon's recent post about being thankful for free Canadian medical care. As I've blogged before, when you are really ill, you get in right away, and no one asks for a dime. I can't imagine what his mother would be feeling right now if she had to worry about the cost.

Kaz is actually calmer than we are. He is so relaxed---he thinks this will all be just fine. In his world, big kids don't die, only babies. Sick Kids fixes the big kids. Oh please God let him be right this time....he has been so disillusioned. He deserves to feel a little hope in his life.

Last summer N. had one of these attacks, after contracting meningitis in BC. He had follow up care here, and saw a fleet of specialists who all agreed that he had no residual effects from the stroke or the meningitis, but that he might need heart surgery in the future to close up a minor hole in his heart, a birth defect that had gone undetected during all this time. In the meantime, he was being watched very carefully but they thought he was fine.

I guess they were wrong.

This kid has spent more nights in our house, and hung out with our family so often we joke that he is like our third son. His mom has been a single parent, and done everything all on her own for so many years and seriously, she is such a cool lady, that I consider her to be one of my best friends.

So say a prayer, internets. Tonight we need something to go right.