The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

22 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday June 13, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Cassie touched the hearts of paramedics By Hiba Kesebi SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER For more than half of her life, fouryear-old Cassie Lyons has fought cancer, weekly chemo sessions, the side affects of steroids and one injection after the other. Today, Friday, June 13, Tim Nykamp and nine other Halton paramedics will take part in Hamilton's Relay for Life, as the OPSEU Local 207 team, to help Cassie battle cancer. "I've never done anything like this to a patient, but Cassie really touched me -- she's resilient. When she gets Delivered to select homes in the Hamilton, Oakville, Burlington and Mississauga communities six times a year. Also available at Chapters and Indigo. MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER TO THE RESCUE: Halton paramedic Tim Nykamp holds three-year-old Cassie Lyons, who has cancer. Also pictured are Cassie's mother, Stacey Lyons, and paramedic Corrie Nykamp. Paramedics are raising money for the relay for life run, on behalf of Cassie. knocked down, she gets back going," Nykamp explained, adding that the team will be pushing Cassie on a stretcher for a few laps. Unlike three months ago, this time around, Cassie will sit on the stretcher completely aware of her surrounding and Nykamp will be pushing her with a smile, and a sigh of relief. Late Marchof this year, Cassie's energy died down, she started to make a sucking noise with her mouth and her blue eyes rolled to one side. "I didn't know what happened, her energy just went down and she told me `Mommy, I'm tired' and she just started staring into space," said Cassie's mother, Stacey Lyons. In a panic the mother of two, quickly picked up the phone and called 911. Once the paramedics arrived, Stacey learned that her, then, three-and-a-half year old daughter was having a seizure, and had to be transported to a hospital, immediately. "We decided to transport her to McMaster because that's where she was getting her treatment," explained Nykamp. During, the half-an-hour drive from Oakville to McMaster University Medical Centre Nykamp learned more about Cassie's condition. On May 24, 2006 -- just two weeks prior to her second birthday -- Cassie developed flu-like symptoms. "She started to throw up, she wouldn't eat. We thought she picked up the flu from her grandmother, because she was sick," explained Stacey, as she looked at her daughter, who was running around the house in a green floral dress. But as the day progressed, so did Cassie's condition. Stacey called the doctor, who told her Cassie probably had the flu and that, if anything, she should take Cassie to the hospital because she might be dehydrated. It wasn't the flu. And it wasn't dehydration. "We took her to Oakville Trafalgar hospital and the doctors there did some blood work, and then told me that the results came out abnormal," said Stacey, trying to fight tears. "I thought that they meant they did some mix up or they didn't do the tests properly. I never thought they're going to tell me she has leukemia," she continued. Although there were many "tell-a-tale" signs of Cassie's leukemia, they could have all been part of the normal growth of a healthy two-year-old. "Cassie would get bruises, but what one or two year old doesn't get bruises? She would cry a lot at night, and my doctor and friends would say it's because she's teething. She would be tired in the mornings, but we'd say that's because she hasn't slept the night," explained Stacey. But when the doctors did the blood work for a second time, they told Stacey, that they were "99 per cent sure that Cassie had leukemia." It turned out that Cassie was getting bruises because her body lacked platelets--cells found in the blood that control bleeding--and her night-time pain was not a result of teething, but rather a change in her bone marrow. During that trip Nykamp learned that Cassie is a frequent visitor of McMaster Children's hospital and her ride to McMaster, that late March day, was certainly not her first. That day, the team of paramedics stayed with Cassie in the hospital. "She woke up while we were in the hospital," said Nykamp. "And she was just chattering along. She woke up and said `Hi Daddy!' She was laughing, and telling us that she wanted to play. She was hooked up on heart monitors, and she wanted to play." "I remember how you went to the toy box, digging for markers," smiled Stacey. FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 905-845-3824 ext. 244 or 242 LOST? child who is quickly Enjoy yourself at the Waterfront Festival No worries! You'll find all the answers to who? what? where? when? at The Shores Info Booth just inside the Main Gates in Coronation Park, Festival weekend, which is also where you will find The Shores' Lost Child Program. Register your child upon entering the gates for piece of mind and a FOUND! June 22, 23, 24 ~ Coronation Park www.oakvillefestival.com See Paramedics page 30