Our First Walk!

So on Day 249 in the PCICU, Evanna went for her very first walk in over 8 months! I was originally going to wait until her home vent came in before attempting such a task, but it still hasn't arrived (we've been promised that it will for sure be here by tomorrow), and I just couldn't wait any longer. This was actually a milestone that we were working towards back on Mother's Day when we were in Calgary, however, Evanna obviously had different plans and she ended up going for a different ride that day instead (oh you know, just a STARS helicopter ride).

This morning we learned that her home vent still hadn't arrived and I kindly voiced my disappointment with our nurse. She stated that we really didn't have to wait for the home vent, and that as long as an RT was available, we could go for a walk with the hospital ventilator. So this afternoon, once the RT's were all done their breaks, I raced out to our car, which had our stroller in it (in fact, I have left Evanna's stroller in our SUV for the past 8 months, always hoping that one day we'd get to use it) and raced with it back to the ICU. We dressed her up, transferred her over to the stroller and left on our little adventure! We just did a simple walk up to the Healing Garden on the 4th floor and hung out there for a little while. We took pictures, let Evanna look around and let her enjoy the view. After about 40 minutes, we could tell Evanna was getting pretty tired, so we headed back down to the 3rd floor and stopped by the "fish tank" that's just outside of he PICU before we ended our little tour. I can't express how awesome of a feeling it was to finally put Evanna in our stroller and push her around. It's just a normal thing to do, and something I have been yearning to do for an incredibly long time. Hopefully this is a start to even more walks, and just another step towards taking Evanna home!

xo The Irvine Family


+ I'm aware that many people who follow us and read this blog are Heart Families themselves, and so if you are, this message is for you! My dear friend Carly of the Madden DeLuca Foundation is looking to raise awareness for CHD and is launching a project on their website and Facebook page called "I am the face of CHD". If you are interested, please email her at delucacarly@gmail.com with your story of your heart warrior or angel, along with images that may be used. Let me know if you have any questions, as I'm good friends with this family and their amazing foundation (the work they do for local Stollery families in honour of their son is just astounding!), and please share this any heart families that you know!


+ I only do blog updates every 2 - 6 days, but I try my best to do daily Instagram (@kierrai) and now Facebook updates for those following closely to our little heart journey. If you want your daily fix of Miss Evanna, click HERE or search "The Irvine Home // Evanna's Special Heart" to find our Facebook page.


+ Tomorrow, @compassionauction hosting an auction for us on Instagram, and will donate all of the proceeds to our family. Follow @compassionauction on Instagram to get in on the action.

I'm blown away with the support received, and the donations up for auction are slowly getting posted. There are some pretty incredible items available to bid on, and we're optimistic that the auction will be a huge success. Here's a small sample of what's available, so make sure to ✖✖FOLLOW✖✖ @compassionauction and particular TOMORROW!



+ Compassion Auction has also designed and created some amazing t-shirts inspired by Evanna. For every shirt sold, $8 will be given to our family and $2 will be given to the Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance for CHD research! They are currently taking preorders, and will only be submitting an order once on June 16, which means that all orders have to be in by ✖✖June 15✖✖ There is a minimum of orders that we have to have, and if we don't reach it, the shirts will NOT be ordered and you will be given a refund. Here's what they look like, so click HERE to order yours!