Tracy left Sunnybrook Hospital on October 17th and is now a resident at The Lyndhurst Centre of Toronto Rehab. The Lyndhurst Centre is a perfume/cologne free environment. Please respect their policy and leave your bottle of Charlie or Old Spice at home.
She wants and needs visitors on weekends and evenings (weekday evenings from 4pm to 11pm and weekend from 11am to 11pm). There’s plenty of parking in front of the building. You’ll need to buy a token from the machine in the lobby to exit the lot. The cost to park is $8 but there’s lot of free on-street parking in the neighbourhood.
We’re using a web service called Lotsa Helping Hands to simplify scheduling visits to see her. Click on the calendar below to connect to the site and create your profile. You’ll then be able to see Tracy’s schedule and the days and times she needs visitors.
Tracy has cool new wheels!
As some of you already know, Tracy took delivery of a beautiful new MV-1 accessible van last month. The MV-1 is the first factory-built, wheelchair friendly vehicle on the market. Tracy really took her time and looked at many options including van conversions but ultimately decided that the MV-1 was the best solution for her, the family and her caregivers. I know we don’t say it enough – Thank you. Soooo many of you have generously cycled, planked, stretched, purchased, promoted, and spun to help us raise almost $250,000. Because...
read moreMy Aunt
My daughter Abigail has been hard at work on a speech she’ll be giving tomorrow in her Grade 9 English class. After rehearsing it tonight in front of Lesley, Grandma Joan and I, she graciously agreed to share it will all of you… Robert —————————– Life is precious, and that is not something that I really understood, until I was forced to. Comprehending that life is precious and every second that we are here is a gift, is not something that a teenager often stops to think...
read moreMarch Update
The Updates I am long overdue in writing a blog post. It is close to 7 months since that fateful day. It has been an unbelievably difficult journey ……too difficult to write about at times. So here’s the Tracy scoop: Tracy is still at Toronto Rehab’s Lyndhurst hospital. She is learning to use her motorized wheelchair using a sip and puff controller – not without its challenges but she is very determined. Tracy sold her house and purchased a modest bungalow near Lawrence and Don Mills that she is planning to renovate and make...
read moreJoin The Team Tracy Cycling Group
A cycling group called ‘Team Tracy’ is being created to participate in The Centurion 50 mile ride in Collingwood on September 16, 2012. It is wide open for anyone to join…and all levels of riders are welcome. Tracy’s friends Debbie Gray and Jeff Chalmers have graciously offered to help put the wheels in motion. Tracy loved to ride and it was during her training for The Centurion that she had her accident. It is Tracy’s wish for people to come together to ride in this event to share the experience she had worked so hard to...
read moreNever Give Up!
I spent last week in Miami at my company’s annual customer conference and sales kick-off. While I had hoped it would be something of a respite from the challenges of the past five months, Tracy was never really far from my thoughts — especially after listening to the inspirational words of Nando Parrado our keynote speaker. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the story. In October 1972 a rugby team from Uruguay was flying to Chile for an international match. Their plane crashed high in the Andes Mountains and the survivors...
read moreA Very Different Birthday Party
Tracy turned 42 last Saturday. It was obviously a very melancholy day for our family. Here’s an email that Tracy’s friend Tammy Comish sent me about a party her wonderful girlfriends organized for her at Lyndhurst Hospital. I loved her note and thought we’d share it with you. Hi Lesley, I wanted to share with you, my thoughts on Tracy’s birthday! As I was driving to attend Tracy’s birthday party on Friday night, I found myself flashing back to a year ago, when I was attending Tracy 40th birthday (for...
read moreResolutions, Nanny Search, New Board and Little Angels in Markham
As I watch the programs on TV and listen to people talk about their New Year’s resolutions, I wonder about them. Isn’t a resolution really more like a wish? We wish to be skinnier. We wish to get in better shape. We wish to be a nicer person We wish to be tidier and if we’re lucky, we change our behaviour to actually make the “resolutions” come true. My resolution and my wish is for continued courage, hope, resilience, tenacity, determination and drive for my sister. My resolution is to never take anything...
read moreChristmas Homecoming
Home Sweet Home Tracy was able to spend the day with us at her house on Christmas Day! She wanted it to happen, and had mentioned about being home for Christmas in her first CBC interview. It was her first-time home since the accident and we made it happen. We hired a private ambulance and they brought her home in a stretcher. While it’s only a five-minute drive, Tracy still finds being jostled around in an ambulance or accessible van uncomfortable and painful. Her house is a tall walk up with many steps and turns to navigate....
read moreLeadership
Many speak of leadership, yet very seldom do you see someone really step up at a time of need and lead by example. In hockey, there are plenty of leaders. They usually wear the C or the A on their sweater. There are always others that step up, say something when it is time, or simply do something that can turn the tide, change the momentum. Sometimes leaders have to do things that are “uncomfortable” to do. They can upset people with decisions, but leaders make those hard decisions. Someone always has to. On Sept 4th, the day Tracy...
read moreLife goes on….
It’s the old cliché that we’ve heard a million times, but sadly it is true. The clock nor the calendar stand still for anyone! People must get on with their lives, their work, their families, their day-to-day routines, their social gatherings, their celebrations, their appointments … their “busy“. Slowly the impact of Tracy’s accident is fading for some. Priorities shift. It’s amazing to think that it was only 3 months + 1 week ago on labour day weekend that Tracy’s life changed...
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