For 12 hours, children shared stories of strength, courage and perseverance, and for 12 hours, Corus Radio London listeners donated, all to benefit London Children’s Hospital and the nearly 32,000 kids that are treated there every year.
980 CFPL, FM96, Country 104 and 103.1 Fresh Radio broadcast live from the atrium at the London Health Science Centre throughout the day Friday to raise money for Children’s Health Foundation in support of Children’s.
Late Friday afternoon, organizers announced Radiothon had raised $174,352, the largest number ever.
While the hospital is one of the heartbeats of the London community, it’s not exclusively London’s hospital. Children’s services a population of 2.3 million people, including 400,000 children, from across Southwestern Ontario and parts of Northern Ontario.
53 per cent of the patients at Children’s are from outside London.
Last year’s Radiothon, held exactly one year ago today, raised $100,207.
One of the many children at the hospital Friday sharing their story of hope was Brock Chessell. The 12-year-old from St. Marys made headlines on Monday when he got a stick from his hockey hero at the Toronto Maple Leaf game, Mitch Marner.
Chessell held up a sign that said, “Mitch, I beat cancer.”
The former London Knight promptly signed a stick and gave it to the youngster.
Julie Chessell told 980 CFPL why the moment was so special.
“We were coming back from our oncologist and he made sure to tell us there was no cancer at this time,” she said. “We were super excited about that so it just made the day crazy awesome and it was World Cancer Day so it was just perfect.”
Brock will be among the many brave, young guests at Radiothon, speaking about the stick he got from Marner and sharing the story of his 19-month long cancer journey.
90 per cent of the equipment at Children’s Hospital is funded by donors. Some of the equipment purchased from events like Radiothon include a Giraffe Omnibed, which is a neonatal incubator that mimics a mother’s womb, a Transport Incubator, which helps transfer babies from the region to London and a Cardiac ultrasound machine, which allows doctors to visualize life-threatening defects in detail at the bedside to determine if a patient needs surgery or other interventions.
LHSC officials say the specialized equipment is crucial to the hospital because when it comes to supporting kids’ health, one size doesn’t fit all.
There is also always the need to replace ageing equipment and invest in the latest technology.
For more information on how to donate click here.
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