Okanagan family among thousands using BC Children’s Hospital each year

A Lake Country resident is sharing her child’s story in support of the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Dream Lottery.

Toni Nicholls says her four-year old daughter Rylie is currently undergoing treatment for Stage four Metastatic Neuroblastoma at Children’s Hospital. She has completed six rounds of regular chemo, MIBG radiation therapy, tumour resection surgery, two rounds of high-dose chemo, and stem cell transplants.

She is also undergoing radiation and immunotherapy at BC Children’s Hospital, and may be part of clinical trial in the future.

Rylie Nicholls (Submitted photo)

“One day we thought our daughter had growing pains, and the next we were being told that we had to get to BC Children’s Hospital immediately from Kelowna,” Toni Nicholls told Ronald McDonald House Charities about the day in August 2021 when they got the devastating news.

“The next few days were a whirlwind, but that is when we found out our [then] two-year old daughter was fighting for her life with Stage 4 Metastatic Neuroblastoma. We learned also that our journey in Vancouver will last around 18 months, and then repeated visits afterwards.”

Tickets for the 2022 Dream Lottery are on sale now until October 13, 2022, or until tickets sell out.

The Dream Lottery supports research initiatives that lead to innovative discoveries and treatments, which in turn directly help experts at BC Children’s Hospital advance their goals to conquer childhood illnesses.

Malcolm Berry, president and CEO of BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, said the Dream Lottery funds go directly to Children’s Hospital research initiatives

“Last year approximately 138,000 patients visited our hospital from across B.C,” said Berry. As the only hospital in the province devoted exclusively to the care of children, BC Children’s Hospital provides a calibre of child-centred specialized care that is difficult to find anywhere else in the province.”