Clydes Wish Comes True

By Kelly Elder
Clyde Swanson is a four year old little boy that has had a difficult start in life but a recent trip to Disney World courtesy of the Children's Wish Foundation gave him some great memories that hopefully will lessen the memories of some of the bad!
Clyde Swanson was born on April 21, 2005 at the Royal Alexander Hospital in Edmonton by emergency c-section to Toni and Mark Swanson, who at that time, lived in Coronach.
Mark is the son of Wayne and Connie Swanson of Coronach and Toni is the daughter of Roy and Roberta Wheeler of Calgary, Alberta.
The joy of a new baby boy in the family was overshadowed by the fears of the condition that plagued this small infant.
Small baby Clyde had been diagnosed with a heart condition by a ultra sound technician in Regina during Toni's second trimester of pregnancy.
Clyde was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. The Swanson family travelled to Edmonton to wait for the baby's arrival. For two weeks they stayed with a cousin and then moved into the Ronald McDonald house in Edmonton.
Clyde spent the first three months of his life in hospital and has underwent many procedures and operations over the past four years.
With a major surgery looming, the Swanson's were thrilled to hear that Clyde's wish to meet Spider Man had been granted.
Toni talked about the "Wish". On trip to the emergency room, Clyde's social worker Laura asked him what he would wish for if he could have a wish. He looked at her and said, 'to see Dr. Giuffre'. Dr. Giuffre is Clyde's cardiologist, whom he always looks for when he is sick. After we all got a good chuckle she asked again, and he said, 'let me think about it, he then responded, hmm let me think about this. I want to meet Spiderman, and Mickey mouse." From here our Wish journey was started. After talking about it he decided that he wanted to go for his fourth birthday."
The Swansons got the news that Clyde's wish had been granted and shortly after a big colourful envelope arrived covered in stickers, addressed to Clyde. Toni explained, "Inside was lots of paperwork for mom and dad, and books and stickers about Disney World for Clyde, and Jillian to look at and start planning."
The Swansons were able to book the trip for Clyde's fourth birthday, April 21, 2009. At the Wish Foundation office they picked up their travel arrangements along with a backpack for Clyde with a water bottle, a stuffed lion, and various items that relate to the "Wish". The family also received buttons and t-shirts to wear on our journey.
The Swansons spent one night in Toronto and the next day arrived at the resort where it was sunny and warm. The owner of a timeshare at the Orange Lake Resorts had donated his timeshare. Toni said, "It was amazing with all the property and a lazy river."
The Swansons spent their first day familiarizing themselves with the area "In fact on the way from the airport we didn't get off on the right exit, but fortunately Mark's farming instincts kicked in and we made it back to the right spot." said Toni.
The next morning, Clyde's fourth birthday, the excited family were off to Universal Studio's and Islands of Adventure to meet Spiderman. "Clyde got a superhero welcome, as well as a paper that makes him an official super hero, and we got to meet Spiderman and a lot of the super hero friends. Lots of pictures were taken, and a few tears by a mom were shed. Jillian didn't like the (super heroes) and was scared to go near them, she even ran away from them. But Clyde was in his glory, and would not look at any other super hero but Spiderman. He just kept looking at him and touching him." said Toni
After the meeting with the super heroes, the Swansons headed the Spiderman ride. "Due to the "Wish" and Clyde's condition we didn't have to stand in line for rides. The ride felt like you were right in a Spiderman movie, there was heat, and rain, and lots of webs. You wore glasses that made everything pop out right in front of you, and at one point Clyde took his glasses off." remembered Toni.
"The rest of the day was all about enjoying each other and having fun. Fun we did, we got home and went straight to bed, without even any birthday cake. We got to go back for one more day to Universal and we had a blast, we even got to have a private meeting with Barney. Universal Studios was our favourite part of the trip. If you are heading down don't forget to make plans to head there as well." said Toni.
The next three days the Swansons spent at Disney World. "Clyde's favourite part of Disney was seeing and hugging the characters. We felt bad bypassing people that were standing in line, and we would try to stand in line, but as soon as a spotter would see our buttons, or t-shirts we would be brought to the front."
Swanson's eight year old Jillian enjoyed one day that was all about her. Toni explained, "she got to spend the day at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and they turned her into a princess. Clyde ran up to her after and said Jillian you will always be my princess, it was such a precious memory."
"Our favourite rides were Dumbo, Peter Pan, Soarin', Tea Cups, and it's a small world. The most favourite place that the kids liked to eat was the Rain Forest Cafe. Mickey was the biggest hit of them all, but we enjoyed all of the characters. The fireworks were amazing, and during The "wishes" fireworks we shed a few tears, as that is what got us there was a "WISH". " said Toni.
"Our last full day in Florida was heading to Sea World. We touched the Stingrays, saw the Penguins, watched the Shamu show, and saw the sharks, and dolphins. After all this we headed back to the resort to take advantage of the Lazy River, where we tubed around and around, once again just enjoying the peacefulness and each other.
"It was sad to come home, as we had doctors appointments and blood work awaiting us, but it was nice to be home as well. We brought back many memories for a Wish Trip of our dreams. We will never forget the memories that we shared, and had." said Toni.
Once home, the Swansons waited for Clyde's surgery.
Toni explained his latest surgery, "Clyde's last heart surgery was on October 19, 2009. This was his Fontan surgery the last of three that he needed for his heart. We had a long process to get to this stage, as at one point they thought he would need a heart transplant."
Clyde has had many ups and downs. Just before his first birthday Clyde went into heart failure that threatened his young life. Medication stabilized his condition.
After eliminating a heart transplant as a viable option, Clyde was administered heavy does of medication for years that brought his heart back to a healthy enough state for surgery. Toni said, " At one point a pharmacist phoned me asking if the doctor had made a mistake in dosage as it was higher then an adults. I responded no that it was correct and we were trying to get his heart function back. "
Toni shared other close calls, "When Clyde was three, he had a stroke that involved two seizures as well. Thankfully, he didn't have many problems from this, and three days later he outran a doctor down the hall! A year later we took him to Emergency as he did not want to wake up, and it was discovered that his sugar level was very low. After watching him and using a sugar monitor for months it never got that low again, and they do not know what happened that day, just that it was lucky we got him there when we did."
The Swansons drew on the memories of their trip to Disney World to get them through the surgery, "Trying to keep a child busy in a hospital bed is not fun, but we did a lot of talking about our memories from his "WISH" and looking at lots of his pictures from that special time.
Toni talked Clyde's recovery from the surgery, "He came through his heart surgery with flying colors, until he caught H1N1 in the hospital. This was our worst fear, but luckily he fought it strong and only developed a cough and one night with a low grade fever. We are still trying to fight off a cough, but now they think that the cough might be asthma related. So here we go again to different doctors trying to figure Clyde out."
Although they are still doctoring with his cough, Clyde is doing so well that he doesn't need to see his cardiologist for three months. Toni said, "Now that he is older and will be going into kindergarten they have done an assessment on him, and think that maybe due to his stroke he may need some occupational therapy to help him with his fine motor skills. This will be our new journey, as well he continues to need blood work every 2 weeks. Seeing him you would never know the problems he has conquered in his short life, he has so much energy, and he is great on a computer."
"When asking the kids what their favorite part of being down in Florida was they always say that we were together and didn't have to worry about doctors, needles, school or work, it was just us as a family." concluded Toni.
The Children's Wish Foundation has been granting wishes for 25 years, to children with high-risk life-threatening illness. They are proud of the fact that they have never denied an eligible child a wish, and that they have donated more wishes then any other organization in Canada.