Sheena Murphy

My CHEO Story

Three and a half year ago my beautiful son was born early and the doctors became concerned, as he was missing milestones.  At 8 months old we had our first visit to neurology and received the news that no parent wants to hear; something was wrong.

This began the investigation phase and a few month later, my son ended up being hospitalized for 3 months due to a severe feeding and respiratory issues. After a lengthy investigation, doctors discovered that he had a vascular ring causing 70 percent construction of his trachea and esophagus.

After surgery to release the ring, he recovered well but continued to develop very slow and additional issues began to become apparent. Genetics and further testing led to the discovery that he has a rare genetic mitochondrial disorder.

Why I'm involved

I never expected my life to be so closely associated to a hospital when I became a parent, but I am so thankful to have CHEO in our life. After spending countless days and nights in emergency, hospitalizations, specialists appointments, labs and rehabilitation; one becomes extremely grateful to have access to such an amazing hospital and magnificent staff.

My son is alive and continuing to progress because of CHEO and I just want to find some little way to give back.

My Role

• Patient and Family Advisory Committee Member 2019-2021
• Attended Children’s Healthcare Conference December 8-10, 2019
• Attended Ontario Child Health Support Unit Conference in Toronto
• Research Project Reviewer: Examining the role of endoscopic ultrasound as a novel measure of disease activity in pediatric ulcerative colitis
• Research Project Reviewer: Neuro-MRI during sleep in infants and children: Addressing COVID-19 pandemic associated limitations to MRI with anesthesia
• Research Project Reviewer: “They Can Play”: Evaluating coach behaviours and knowledge use while delivering a multi-sport program to children with chronic medical conditions