"It was very fun." Pacey Wall wraps up year as the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba's Champion Child

Pacey Wall's year as the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba's Champion Child has come to an end.
    
The 10-year-old from Winkler live with a rare condition, intestinal failure, and has endured over 35 surgeries at HSC Children’s Hospital. He’s been in and out of the Emergency Department and on wards since complications first arose at age three, even spending many holidays and birthdays in hospital. 

Over the last year, Wall has been representing kids like himself, who rely on the hospital, at over 40 events.

"It was very fun. I loved to do speeches in front of big crowds," he said. "First, I started off with a joke and then I told them about my story."

Wall says he misses making these appearances, noting they became a part of his everyday life. Throughout 2023, he travelled to different events all over Manitoba and even to Florida where he met singer/songwriter, Andy Grammer. "That was really cool," he said. 

The Wall family also partnered with the Winkler Flyers MJHL hockey team and Victory Lanes Speedway to raise money for the Foundation, and his mom created custom shirts and sweaters at Paper Birch apparel. 

Pacey hands over one of two cheques presented this week

Through this process, they raised $34,000 which is being split 50/50 with HSC Children’s Hospital to purchase four Rigid Laparoscopic Telescopes for the pediatric surgical department, and fund emergency care research at Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM) through the new theme, Research into the Enhancement of Acute Care for Children’s Health (REACH). REACH will build inclusive, strong and sustainable infrastructure to scale existing research, and support a stronger base of researchers that can continue to innovate and improve acute care experiences and outcomes for children, youth and their families in Manitoba and beyond. Both of these organizations selected by Wall himself.

"I picked them because I have to use the surgery room a lot, and research is just very important," he explained.

No matter how challenging things get, Wall sees the positive, and he is encouraging his successor to do the same. 

"Just look towards the good things and eventually, it just happens," he said. 

With files from Robyn Wiebe and Angela Peacock.