Community bands together to make a wish come true

Times Reporter 

 

In the midst of the blame being tossed in the country’s largest E. coli scare, people can often forget those affected by the bacteria. Four-year-old Sarah Demoskoff contracted E. coli after eating lean ground beef which was later determined to be from the XL Meats beef recall. Demoskoff spent 24 days in the Children’s Hospital battling bacteria. 

“The E-coli turned into HUS (Hemolytic-uremic syndrome) which causes kidney failure and anemia. Her kidneys completely shut down so she had to go on dialysis and then she had to have two blood transfusions,” said mom Cheryl Walsh. 

Walsh was terrified, especially when the doctors were unsure what each night was going to bring in the beginning. Sarah is now off of dialysis and is home and doing well, but she will need to be monitored for the rest of her life. Until she is 18 she will have to be checked at the Children’s Hospital and once she turns 18 she will be referred to an adult neufrologist.

“Apparently with kidneys you’re born with all of your little filters and when they shut down like that they don’t all re-open and they (the doctors) don’t know how many do. All they know is right now she has enough for her height and weight to keep her healthy, but as she grows they just have to monitor her,” said Walsh. 

Sarah is a Justin Bieber fan, and one way Walsh tried to help her daughter keep her mind off of her treatments was by playing his music and videos. Once it became clear that Sarah would be coming home, and knowing the Bieber was playing in Calgary soon, Walsh put the word out on her community’s Facebook group to see if anyone knew where she could buy tickets to take Sarah. 

Walsh said the support that came through was almost overwhelming. She began receiving messages from people saying they had emailed Justin Bieber himself, the mayor of Calgary, the Flames and many more. 

When Virgin Radio heard about Walsh’s hunt for the tickets they got in touch with her.

“They called me in the morning, I was still sleeping and I woke up and there was like three missed calls on my phone. So I called back the number and when I called back it was Adam Wylde from Virgin and they sort of asked me what was up with Sarah, how it went,” said Walsh.

“They explained the contest that they had going on which was Brave for Bieber and the challenges. They said that they thought that Sarah had been brave enough so they gave her two tickets.”

Walsh has lived in Langdon for four and a half years. She said in day-to-day life you know your neighbours but it isn’t until you go through a crisis that you really find out how much of a community a place is. Langdon opened up their hearts for her daughter, something she will never forget.

Sarah was singing along and had a blast at the concert. Walsh said the community also banded together to give Sarah some spending money for while she was at the concert. With the money Sarah got a hoodie, a book full of pictures and a t-shirt.