Mitchell Baar’s Story

We thought it was a cold. He was coughing and started to wheeze. The vaporizer didn’t help so into a clinic to get checked out. They looked him over, sent us for x-rays and once they saw the results, directed us immediately to CHEO, asking, “Can you call your husband and get him to meet you there?” I started to feel a bit panicky. What was going on?

“… it is a mass in his chest, it looks like cancer…” Your world reels around you as you try to take in their words. That was Oct 1st 2002; the start of a very difficult time for our little six year old son, Mitchell, as well as for the rest of our family. The fortunate thing was the fact that there was top notch help for us at hand, CHEO. As we had just arrived in Ottawa two months earlier, we hadn’t heard of CHEO let alone knew anything of its reputation in the community. Once the shock of hearing that Mitch had leukemia started to wear off we were able to appreciate just how lucky we actually were to have this warm, welcoming and cheerful place with the most amazing nurses, doctors and staff within our community. We are profoundly grateful for the excellent care he received at the hospital. Two years of chemotherapy – and now off treatment for 2 years, Mitchell is thriving. He is healthy-playing soccer, going skating and generally having a regular life that we hope all of our kids can enjoy. Other families have not been so fortunate. You meet a lot of kids trying to get through treatments for a whole host of different cancers. Some are easier to beat than others but the fact remains that with CHEO in their lives, families can rest assured knowing that their children are getting the best possible care.

Thank you for helping kids with cancer!