Mikayla’s Story

Mikayla Edmunds is now a thriving five-year-old little girl. She still has her challenges, but has superseded what we have expected of her physical abilities.

In utero, Mikayla was diagnosed with HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome), club feet and short long bones. Some thought that she wouldn’t make the weight needed to have the life-saving open-heart surgery. Alas, she was born 5 lbs. 4oz.! Against all odds, she just barely made weight, which was 5 lbs.

As she grew, there was some trouble gaining weight and other mobility struggles that we worked very hard on with our physiotherapist. Mikayla started to take steps at two and a half, almost three years old. At about three and a half years old, we enrolled Mikayla in a PISE class at Saanich Commonwealth Place. The amount of joy that we saw well inside her every time she was able to catch a ball was priceless.

When we heard about this amazing program that PISE was offering to children that have mild to moderate ailments (the Active Development Program), we jumped on board. This amazing program has helped Mikayla leaps and bounds.

In the past two years Mikayla has gone from not being able to walk upstairs to being able to walk up three to four flights all on her own, from falling over all the time to being able to walk and run without falling very often. She is able to catch herself before she falls most of the time! Walking along a curb was not easy before, but possible now! Just last week, Mikayla learned to go up onto her tippy toes.

I am so grateful to this amazing program. I feel things would be very different without it. Not just for the physical achievements, but the social interactions with other children that are on the same level as her!

~Jocelyn Edmunds, Mikayla’s Mom