Your 2024 Manitoba Champion Child, Janessa, is representing the resilience, hope, and strength of over 140,000 children who rely on HSC Children’s Hospital every year.
Janessa lives in Pukatawagan, a First Nations community north of The Pas and 780 km from Winnipeg but has spent a lot of her young life at HSC Children’s.
Starting at age five, Janessa began having reoccurring urinary tract infections. Her parents took her to The Pas Hospital and then she was referred to HSC Children’s where specialists determined Janessa’s kidneys weren’t functioning properly; one was small, and the other was diseased.
By age seven, Janessa had reached stage 4 kidney disease with 25 % kidney function that continued to decline. Recognizing the need to be closer to the care at Manitoba’s only children’s hospital, Janessa’s parents moved the family to Winnipeg.
After care and support from pediatric nephrology specialists and a successful kidney transplant at HSC Children’s Hospital, Janessa is now doing well. She’s a teenager enjoying being back in her community with family and friends, spending time outdoors doing things she loves like fishing and dancing. Janessa’s family will continue to travel to HSC Children’s in Winnipeg so specialists can keep an eye on her health.
Janessa is raising funds to help other kids like her, supporting the Nephrology Clinic and Hemo Dialysis Unit. Donate now!
About the Nephrology Centre of Excellence
Each year, up to 1,000 children receive kidney care at HSC Children's Hospital, a number that regrettably continues to rise. At this very moment, the Hemo Dialysis Unit is supporting around 15 Indigenous children with malfunctioning kidneys.
Janessa’s funds will go towards supporting a new Centre of Excellence— a hub of top-notch care, pioneering research, and an exceptional patient experience, right here in Manitoba.
#GiveBetterFutures with Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba
You can change a sick child’s life through the current $75 million Better Futures campaign. History-making changes in child health will ensure sick kids get the care they need in places of comfort and healing, in environments that physically and technologically match the excellence provided by healthcare professionals today. They’ll benefit from leading-edge research focused specifically on the unique needs of kids in our communities. Manitoba’s largest-ever fundraising campaign for child health NEEDS YOU to help #GiveBetterFutures to sick and injured kids. Because your present can change their future.
Since 1971, with incredible donor support, the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba has raised more than $165 million to help sick and injured children from Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, and Nunavut. The Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that every child treated at HSC Children’s Hospital has the best care experience possible and benefits from the leading-edge research at Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. Learn about your impact at goodbear.ca.
