By Medicine Hat & District Health Foundation

Achieve the Impossible

Nov 28, 2019 | 11:47 AM

Gregor Markie is nine years old and suffers from epilepsy. He was diagnosed seven years ago. He has had multiple MRI’s, EEGs (Sleep deprivation, 24 hour and regular) sees a neurologist, a headache specialist (due to his migraines), and a neuroscientist.

Until recently, all these tests meant trips to Calgary.

The trips are grueling on Gregor and on his family. His dad works out of town, so often his mom has driven him the 3.5 hours to Calgary on her own. It’s a stressful trip. Time off work…. hotel rooms….. eating out…. The expenses add up.

Sleep deprivation EEG’s are required in order to detect when the seizures are occurring. They deliberately put him under stress i.e. Keep him awake until midnight, let him sleep for 4 hours, then go to the hospital hook him up to the machine keep him awake until 10 or 11, make him sleep, and then wake him up abruptly to strobe lights…. All to measure the seizures.

Thanks to the compassion of our proud donors, the Medicine Hat & District Health Foundation now has an EEG machine that Gregor and others can access right here in Medicine Hat. Having access to services in Medicine Hat has changed the Markie family’s lives. The gift it has given them is time…. Family time, to be with each other. Seven hours back, to a family with a child with a health issue is a lot, and it helps relieve that burden of heartache.

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The things we buy with your donations are just things. It is the lives that are made better, healthier, and happier through those things that matter most.

We are challenging Medicine Hatters to dream. We are challenging them not to settle for basics or the bare minimum, but to set our own standard for healthcare. We are taking it upon ourselves as an organization to rise up and call on our community to reach for greater heights in our healthcare system. We are giving our community the courage to never stop reaching for more – for themselves, for their families and friends, and for the community.

With the donations and support of the community, we believe that our dream for advanced healthcare would be realized. Together, we can achieve the impossible.