Bodie Brave Thompson

Dear Friends, Family and Compassionate supporters

My name is Shayna. Celeste and I met in College and became fast friends, now her family is our family. My children refer to Celeste and Dylan as their auntie and uncle. And we considered their children our niece and nephew. After long conversations, a few tears we are reaching out with heavy hearts and hopeful spirits to help the Thompson family in their time of need with their son, Bodie Brave Thompson. Bodie is just 10 Months old and has had a more than challenging medical journey that will be ongoing.

Meet the Thompsons

Dylan, Celeste, Adeline, and Bodie Thompson are a happy family of four residing in Yorkton Sk and working in Melville. Dylan was working at CN rail before his leave, and Celeste at the nursing home in Melville.

At 24 weeks pregnant Celeste and Dylan were told that their little son was going to be born with a rare congenital heart defect. Up until delivery the family had to make frequent weekly trips to either Regina or Saskatoon to meet with specialist. Celeste’s Delivery was too risky to have in yorkton, so they made their way to Saskatoon and on September 30th, 2023, their son Bodie Brave Thompson was born at children’s hospital and was officially diagnosed with Pulmonary atresia with VSD and MAPCAs. Mom and dad were told their perfect baby boy would require multiple open-heart surgeries to repair his heart.

They spent the next 3 months displaced from home alongside Bodie while he remained in hospital. Bodie spent 2 months in the NICU at Jim Pattison children’s hospital before being air ambulanced to Edmonton where it was planned for him to receive his first open heart surgery. Upon arriving to Edmonton, the cardiac team there deemed his surgery far to risky at the time. The family spent 2 weeks in Edmonton before being air ambulanced back to Saskatoon where Bodie was now placed in the pediatric ward. During his stay in hospital Bodie had difficulty with his breathing and gaining weight causing him to require a feeding tube along with alternating high flow breathing assistance and CPAP. After a long 3 months Bodie was finally discharged home with a feeding tube and several medications to manage his heart failure. Upon returning home the family was required to make trips to Saskatoon every few weeks for multiple day stays for appointments with his cardiac team to closely monitor his condition. While they awaited surgery.

The family is grateful for the 100 days in the last 9 months at the Ronald McDonald houses between Saskatoon and Edmonton.

This April Bodie was admitted to the Jim Pattison’s children’s hospital for a CT and MRI due to a new concerns with his increasing head size and his lack of muscle tone. The family is still currently awaiting results from some of the specialized testing that was done. Bodie is now also being followed by a neurology team out of Saskatoon. The results of this were Bodie being given a secondary diagnosis of developmental delay.

Bodie is closely followed by a large list of specialists. His team includes: Pediatric cardiac surgeon, multiple cardiologists, pediatrician, speech and language pathologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, neurologist, and dietician.

Celeste was put off for disability due to high risk pregnancy with Bodie, and since his birth she has been off on Maternity leave.

Dylan has been off work for almost a year now due to the level of at home heavy medical care required for Bodie, and the frequent out of town travel for appointments before and after his birth.

The Thompson family was fortunate to collect unemployment insurance for part of this journey which isn’t much but was enough to keep them afloat.

But now EI has expired and they haven’t had any income for several months. Dylan was in the process of returning to work when they received the call it was time to come to Edmonton for heart surgery. Upon arriving to the Stollery in Edmonton the surgery was rescheduled for a later date in August, leaving the family stuck waiting in Alberta due to appointments in Edmonton.

The Thompson family has no idea at this time how much longer this journey could be with Bodies cardiac journey. They will be displaced in Alberta for an unknown amount of time as well.

among all of this heartache and continual stress, the family has strived to remain positive. But with more travel and surgeries in the future, I’m sure we can all come together to show support to this beautiful family that is always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.