Lizzy’s Journey

From Tiny Acorn to “Busy Lizzy” 

From the moment Lizzy entered the world three and a half months early, her journey has been one of resilience and determination, all backed by her incredible family and the support of ErinoakKids. 

"When she came home from the hospital, the only thing we were told at the time was that she was deaf, that she would be hard of hearing," recalls Lizzy's mom, Angela, an ErinoakKids employee for almost two decades. This led Lizzy and her family to ErinoakKids when she was just six months old for auditory verbal therapy.

Welcome to the world, Lizzy!

 "The auditory verbal therapy was like a play session," Angela remembers fondly. "She learned how to hear. Lizzy’s therapist spent so much time playing with her and teaching her how to listen." 

Lizzy herself has a faint but warm recollection of her early years, and the time spent with her auditory clinician. "I don't remember much, but I remember really liking her."

As Lizzy grew, other developmental delays presented themselves. "She wasn't really sitting independently. She didn't start crawling until she was 17 months," Angela explains. Despite Lizzy's bright and articulate nature, Angela's intuition as both a mother and a professional signaled that there was more to the story. It was their auditory verbal therapist who wisely encouraged a referral to a developmental pediatrician. 

"She started physio and OT at ErinoakKids, and then we met her incredible doctor," Angela shares. Around the age of three, Lizzy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Regular physiotherapy and OT sessions with dedicated therapists began.

Lizzy representing her family’s EOK 5K team “Busy Lizzy”

As Lizzie entered school, ErinoakKids continued to provide support, focusing on her independence and safety skills. Later, around age eight, another doctor joined Lizzy's care team and Lizzy began receiving Botox injections at ErinoakKids’ Botox Clinic. Angela, who works in that clinic today, sees the positive effect the injections have on children with cerebral palsy, just like her daughter. 

Beyond physical therapies, ErinoakKids recognized Lizzy's unique needs, including her auditory processing challenges. After years of being told Lizzy didn't need hearing aids, it was the audiologists at ErinoakKids who finally made a breakthrough. "When I was 13, I was brought into audiology and tried hearing aids for the first time in my whole life," Lizzy recounts. "I put them in and I could finally hear. I picked up all these sounds that I hadn't heard before. I remember being like, 'Oh, I didn't know candy wrappers were that loud!'" 

ErinoakKids has also provided Lizzy with social and emotional support. Lizzy connected with a social worker during her teenage years, a time she herself describes as “tricky” with the added layer of physical pain. “I think her social worker helped with some of Lizzy’s big teenage feelings. She really struggled with a sense of belonging.” Angela adds. Lizzy also participated in various group programs, including iCanBike, where she learned how to ride independently, and the Riverwood camp, an outdoor experience allowing clients to connect with nature and peers.

Lizzy and her mom Angela at the 2014 EOK 5K 

“This was the only kind of safe place where you could have these discussions with your peers because they were experiencing similar things,” Angela explains. “I remember she would come home and say ‘on lunch we talked about what it was like to wear orthotics!’” For Lizzy, the sense of belonging fostered at Riverwood proved to be invaluable, a sentiment that continues to resonate with her at university where she has found herself in community with other individuals with disabilities.  

One special friendship blossomed through ErinoakKids: her bond with Taylor, another young woman with cerebral palsy. Their mothers connected, and Lizzy and Taylor became fast friends through sledge hockey. Their enduring friendship, now maintained through FaceTime calls from their respective universities, is one example of the many friendships that have blossomed through programming at ErinoakKids.

Lizzy proudly holding the Women's Ontario Sledge Hockey provincial games trophy!

 Now a thriving microbiology student in her second year of a co-op program at the University of Guelph, Lizzy follows her passions. Music plays a significant role in her life, from her involvement in a local marching band since she was 15 to playing the French horn and now being part of her university's symphony orchestra. Her experiences with the marching band have been extraordinary, including international tours to New Brunswick, PEI, Ireland (where they won "Best Band" at the Dublin St. Patrick's Day Parade!), and England and France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day – what Lizzy recalls as one of the most moving experiences of her life. Through music, Lizzy feels a sense of belonging.

Lizzy playing the trumpet in the marching band

Beyond music, Lizzy's love for horseback riding, which began therapeutically at age three, showcases not only Lizzy’s adventurous spirit, but her physical progress. At first, she needed five people to help her get onto the horse. Now, she gets on independently. She also mentors with her friend Taylor for the women’s national sledge hockey team. Lizzy also loves to learn, and, in Lizzy’s words, her studies have “reignited that foundation I’ve had with the human body my whole life. I’m just really excited to see where my education takes me.”

Angela beams with pride as she reflects on Lizzy's journey: “I think within ErinoakKids, it was very rare that I had to advocate for her. Clinicians knew her, they knew her potential, and I didn't have to push.” Beyond the support at ErinoakKids, Lizzy’s family was always ready to advocate for her, and give her the best life possible.

“At ErinoakKids, and outside, it was never can’t, it was just figuring out how. If she wanted to skate, we got a sledge, if she wanted to ride a bike, we got her an adaptive bike.” In her role at ErinoakKids, Angela tells parents to keep their kids active and doing what they love. As Angela says: “The social component of finding community through play is so important for the child’s happiness and growth.”

Lizzy today!

 Through early intervention, dedicated staff and the undying support from family, clients like Lizzy blossom, reaching their highest potential.

As Lizzy embarks on her exciting future in microbiology, her experiences at ErinoakKids have laid a strong and loving foundation for a lifetime of achievement and belonging.

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