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Precious fundraiser

New mom on mission to make life easier at Children's Hospital
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Melissa and daughter Cora are back home where life is returning to normal.

Melissa Boles’ quest to raise money for the B.C. Children’s Hospital started when her newborn daughter Cora got a fever.

“Cora was six weeks old,” Melissa said.

“She was sick and really uncomfortable.”

Melissa’s husband was working a graveyard shift so Melissa was alone with a sick daughter.

The next day, Melissa and her husband took Cora to the doctor.

“They gave us baby aspirin and told us we could go home,” Melissa explained.

Cora’s fever, however did not go away, in fact it got worse.

“We were so scared,” she said.

“Cora got some medicine because they found a bit of an ear infection. She slept well that night.”

A few days later, Cora started getting very grouchy and inconsolable.

“She was clutching at her sheets,” Melissa explained.                        Cora started having seizures, so off again went Melissa, bringing baby Cora to the hospital emergency room.

“The next day, Cora started having seizures again, her eyes were twitching and she was pulling her arms in. I was so scared.”

Melissa immediately went to her doctor’s office, where she was then sent by ambulance to the Prince George Regional Hospital pediatric ward.

But Cora continued having seizures.

As Cora’s condition worsened, they were then flown to the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

“We got there in the middle of the night, my husband had to drive down,” Melissa said.

Once there, tests were conducted on Cora to see what was causing her seizures.

“They did MRIs and Lumbar Punctures (spinal tap) to try to find what was wrong with her,” Melissa said.

“We were there for 17 days, so we basically lived in the hospital and got to know what was going on around us and see our situations compared to others,” she added.

“The hospital was lacking in comfortable chairs to nurse, you have to sit in a regular chair,” Melissa explained.

“During the long weekend in September, I was able to scope out a nice recliner and it was so nice to be able to relax and nurse Cora.

“I appreciated those little things.”

The Quesnel mother decided to take matters into her own hands and raise money to create a better and more comfortable stay for future patients and families at the Children’s Hospital’s ward 3M.

Melissa is hoping to raise at least $500 for ward 3M, focusing on providing the ward with at least three new nursing chairs.

“Just being at the hospital got me thinking that I could try to raise some money through awareness in our own hometown,” Melissa said.

Cora is now back at home and her seizures are under control.

Melissa has decided to create a Web page in conjunction with the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation.

To access the website for information and to donate, visit bcchf.ca then click on Independant community events, then see a list of active events, then finally click on Fundraiser for our babies and mummies at the BC Children’s Hospital. The web page has information about the Foundation as well as an outline of where the money donated will be spent. Boles is relying solely on donations made directly to the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation.

All donations will be eligible for tax receipts.

To contact Melissa, email meb3@sfu.com or call 250-992-7528.