On Valentine's Day in 2015...

Deana delivered her baby boy, Liam, through a c-section at her local hospital in Milton. She remained in hospital for two days to recover and was sent home on Family Day morning. The very next day, Liam suddenly began breathing abnormally fast, so Deana took him to the Doctor for a routine checkup. Liam was also not gaining weight and was quickly losing it, which was very concerning. Liam underwent a variety of tests, and after 3 weeks in the Oakville Hospital just as they were discharged and on the way home, Deana received a call regarding the results of the newborn screening test. The test indicated that Liam had Cystic Fibrosis. Deana dropped her phone in shock. She had never heard of CF before and was immediately worried about the uncertainty of Liam’s future.

Liam was referred to the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at McMaster Children’s Hospital to undergo a variety of tests to assess his lung function, sweat test and more. Early on, Liam was seen by his medical team frequently to monitor his illness and build out a treatment plan. Eventually, he was only seen every three months. Liam started his enzymes and treatments very early on in his life. Over the years Liam has had a couple of scares requiring emergency room visits.

Liam’s grandpa was very adamant that we needed to raise awareness for his only grandchild. He used to tell everyone about him, knowing raising awareness would help people understand and not treat Liam any differently than anyone else.

Liam did his first CF walk at the Toronto Zoo at the age of 3 months old and our team raised just over $15,000 - this was a huge win for us. We started hitting the papers trying to raise more awareness and getting the word out. We then decided to do our first event on August 2015, and that’s when it all started! We raised a ton of awareness, and we raised some funds as well. We have been putting on events ever since then and loving every minute of it. We have met a lot of amazing people that have become more than just friends they have become part of your family. We were also adamant that we wanted to have a CF Walk in Milton as well. This was one of our biggest wins, I helped spearhead the first 2 years of it. We also have been raising a Flag in Milton as well for the past 4 years which I put into motion. In Port Credit they put Teal on the Light house for the past 2 years.

Liam has had a few hospital stays, nothing more than just a few days though due to his illness. In 2018 going into 2019 was the beginning, Liam would be entering into JK something I feared happening as I knew he could end up very sick, and I wasn’t sure how the kids would treat him either. I knew there was really nothing out there to help Liam help other kids understand his illness. So I spoke to my aunt who is an illustrator and we talked about creating a children’s book to raise awareness but also help Liam. The next step was that I needed someone who could help us write what we wanted to say. We of course also needed a book publisher. My research had begun. I sent tons of emails out and finally got a response from Iguana Books. I explained what we were looking for, and what we wanted to do - and next thing you knew, all of our STARS were aligning. My parents were over the moon, they knew this could be a huge game changer for everyone, and it sure was.