Kortni & Kolbi

Sweet and sassy duo Kortni and Kolbi, along with their family from Central Butte, SK., truly know the importance of having a provincial children’s hospital close to home. The family has already traveled from their home to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital 22 times this year to receive care for two of their five children.

Audra and Ryan have a seven-year-old daughter, Kortni, who lives with Rasmussen’s encephalitis, an extremely rare form of epilepsy that affects just two in 10 million people, and 12-year-old, Kolbi, who has supraventricular tachycardia.

“It’s so nice to have the children’s hospital close to home. As parents who have children who need to use the hospital, it’s close for us, but it’s so nice that it’s close for our other kids too because we are only gone for a full day instead of two or three days at a time if we had to travel outside of province,” said Audra.

Kortni’s journey began on June 21, 2023, when she was airlifted by the Pediatric Transport Team to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital (JPCH) after suffering a severe seizure that lasted over two hours. Following a four-day stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, she was diagnosed with epilepsy. In September 2023, after another

eight-day hospital stay, doctors suspected Rasmussen’s encephalitis, which was confirmed through a brain biopsy in February 2024.

“It was absolutely terrifying and emotional,” said Audra.

Since then, Kortni has undergone treatment, including intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy, MRIs, EEGs and two brain surgeries. Between September 2023 and May 2024, she experienced 547 seizures. Kortni was seizure free after her first brain surgery in May for eight and a half weeks. Since Kortni’s second brain surgery in October, she has been seizure free once again and living her best life! With her disease being progressive, she continues to visit JPCH every four weeks for IVIG, EEG check ups, MRIs, and will eventually need a third brain surgery, likely within the next two years.

“Without the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital we’d be going out of province all the time and it just puts more stress on the grandparents helping out and the friends taking kids to sports. It affects everybody,” said Ryan.

In 2018, Kolbi, their eldest daughter, was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, a condition where an extra electrical pathway in the heart causes rapid heartbeats.

At times, her heart rate would spike to 240 beats per minute, far exceeding the normal rate of around 110 beats per minute. Over the years, Kolbi has regularly visited JPCH for EEGs, doctor appointments, and follow-up care. At the end of September 2024, she underwent heart surgery and now has one final checkup at JPCH, which her family hopes will mark the end of her treatment.

On top of the family’s health care journeys with Kortni and Kolbi, 10 years ago, at 38 weeks pregnant with their third child, Audra went into labour, but tragically, the baby boy was stillborn. In the midst of their grief, while planning the funeral, Audra and her family chose to donate to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation, formerly known at that time as Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan, feeling it was a meaningful way to honour their baby and a cause that resonated deeply with their family.

Despite their challenges, Audra and Ryan praise the exceptional care at JPCH and highlight the supportive environment provided by hospital programs that take place in the Teammates for Kids Child Life Zone.

“We love Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital. It’s very friendly and kid-oriented,” said Audra.

Please donate to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation to help kids like Kortni and Kolbi.