Early Christmas

Most children get to wake up on Christmas morning, race down the stairs and jump for joy at the sight of a tree lined with presents.

Not all youngsters are so lucky, however. Many spend their holidays in the hospital, receiving treatment for diseases and injuries ranging from leukemia to a broken leg. Hospital stays can be frightening at any age, but especially for children, says Jennifer Wearn, the station manager for WestJet in Thunder Bay.

It’s why she and a group of her colleagues descended on the pediatric care department at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre on Thursday, with several bags of Christmas gifts in tow.

“We have a very caring culture and we like to share that with the kids and their families, especially sick kids who have to be in the hospital for Christmastime,” Wearn said. “It’s a nice thing to do, for us and for them.”

Among the Yuletide booty were dolls, games, stuffed animals, and a bead necklace kit, which went to 10-year-old Raven Legarde. She has spent the past week in the hospital with a broken hip, the product of a degenerative bone disease.

Her mother, Corena Zoccole getting weary waiting for her daughter finding the strength needed to go home, had nothing but praise for the WestJet staff who brightened Raven’s day.
 
“It makes her happy to have something brought in like that, a surprise. It really means a lot to her. She really enjoys anything, any company or presents like that, especially being in the hospital. It’s so sad,” Zoccole said.

The program is in its sixth year nationally, it’s third or fourth in Thunder Bay, Wearn said.

“Corporately we do this all through the month of November. About 2,500 WestJetters bring in toys at all of their bases and then if there’s extra from places like Calgary, then they’ll send them to their remote bases.

Then we distribute them to about 28 hospitals throughout Canada.”