"Kids are not little adults. They don't have the same bones. Their muscles are smaller. Everything is smaller. You need to have that specialized treatment. And that's what these doctors do," Carol-Lyne Dunn said.
Blaze Dunn from Carlyle has gone through a lot in just his short 11 years of life. He was born with bilateral club feet, crossed eyes, and a tethered spine. He also got in a biking accident with a pickup truck and its utility trailer a few years ago.
"Blaze put his helmet on and hopped on his bike and didn't stop at the end of the driveway. So he rode his bike into the side of a truck that was driving by and was also run over by the utility trailer it was pulling. So, my husband immediately took him to the nearest hospital, and it was determined he needs higher care than we can offer here," Carol-Lyne, his mother, shared.
Shortly after, he was airlifted by STARS Air Ambulance with a pediatric team on board to the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital (JPCH) in Saskatoon.
"I took a sigh of relief because I knew he'd be in good hands there."
Blaze himself doesn't remember much about the day he was airlifted, but he said that he recalls his mind playing tricks on him at the time. "When I had my accident and me and my dad were being airlifted, it looked like the plane was like a big black jet, but it wasn't. It was my mind playing tricks on me because I got hurt so bad."
What he does remember is the care and support that he received from the staff at the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital. According to his mom, Blaze spent only six days at the Children's Hospital for treatment and various surgeries. During his stay, he recalled the hospital giving him a Star Wars AT-TE LEGO set.
"It's a place for kids. It's a place for families. It's designed for them, created for them. They're not just confined to their little space and kept aside. They're included in a lot of different things, so it helps their healing process, too. Because being in a room all day in a hospital is not pleasant. But he gets to roam and do things and get their mindset changed a little bit. It's just an amazing place," Dunn added.
While the hospital was designed with kids in mind, the JPCH also supported their families.
"They don't just treat the child. They treat the whole family, because if your child's in the hospital, that's traumatic. It's a critical situation. If one person's in distress, the whole family's in distress. They guided us through the process so that it was one less thing for us to worry about -- and it was really nice. They're just trained for this. They're trained for the trauma. And it is a family trauma when something like this happens. You're just glad that there's somebody that's able to be the rock when you can't be at that moment."
"...to have a pediatrician and a whole team. I mean, these are world-class surgeons and pediatricians and nurses, [and ] like the care teams are just so well trained. They take care of the whole family from the smallest preemie to the biggest teenager. They're happy to help. And they're great at what they do."
Blaze himself remembers his time at the JPCH fondly, giving praise to the medical team that supported him. "I want [everyone] to know that all the doctors and nurses, even if you have anything that happened to you, they're trying to help you as much as they can. And also, you can make friends," he shared.
He shared with DiscoverEstevan the three words of wisdom he now lives by after his accident and his pre-existing conditions.
- Never give up
- Never go down
- Always keep trying
As a way of giving back, Blaze and his family started raising money for the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital Foundation with a movement called 'Blaze A Trail for Kids'. In the last two years, they've raised over $80,000 for the charity. Blaze is hoping to raise $100,000 by the end of 2025.
"[The hospital] means everything. I mean, it means we got to stay close to home for all the specialized care he needed. It means we got the supports we needed when we needed them and still get them. It's everything to us. I don't know what we would have done without that Children's Hospital being so close to home."
Blaze wanted to encourage everyone to practice common bike safety in light of his bicycle accident.
"Always wear a helmet no matter how old you are. Even if you're a grown-up, a kid, no matter how old you are. it saved my life. It could save yours, too."
You can follow his journey and find ways to donate on their Blaze A Trail for Kids Facebook page.