So year 1 was a whirlwind and a blessing. Tammy & I worked together every single day and changed so many lives with the dual approach, and then Jayde stepped in and helped us to help more people. 2023 ended with a sudden shock as Shawn took a stroke while at work, and with 2 hours left of his shift, the manager declined to call someone else in.and refused to have an ambulance called. As soon as he finished his shift that evening of December 23, 2023, we went directly to our local hospital where he was put off work for 2 weeks until we could see our family doctor. In January 2024, we saw our family doctor who then started running numerous tests on him to try to figure out what had actually occurred. After multiple diagnostic tests, it was found that he had taken 1 mini stroke while at work, yet the worst was to come. As the months passed by in 2024, Shawn continued to take strokes, totaling 1 mini and 4 major strokes, which was not the worst of it all.
Our family doctor sent a referral to a geriatric specialist in Fredericton who rushed his referral from when it should have been in 2026 to January 2025.
During the 2024 & 2025 we both faced numerous health issues which included both of us having to have cataract surgery and in Nov 2025 Dawn was admitted to the hospital where it was found that she was gravely ill.
Her entire body was in septic shock due to her liver and kidneys not functioning properly so she was transferred to Edmundston where she had half of her liver removed along with a stent put in place as a stone was blocking it, then came her Kidneys where one was removed and a stent placed in it also and all of the stones removed from her remaining kidney. She also was found to have holes all in her esophagus so that was banded (similar to elastic bands wrapped around each hole)
Once she was transferred back to Grand Falls hospital she did not wake up for 3 and a half days and the doctors advised Shawn, Caitlyn and Dawn's parents that they needed to make some serious arrangements as they did not think she was going to survive, but God had other plans for Dawn and brought her back to life.
She was well on her way to recovering from the previous 8 surgeries that had taken place and almost 2 weeks after her initial banding surgery was done one of the bands broke and went down like a pinball and broke every single band which meant she had to be transferred back to Edmunston where she then under went her 9th surgery in 11 weeks.
Dawn's recovery has been a slow process but she is gaining strength and is going to be undergoing another 2 surgieries soon ( date to be decided after the inital meeting) along with needing a couple of other surgeries.
Shawn will also be undergoing a surgery or two depending on the extent of the disease in his bones of his toes.