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www.insidehalton.com | O AKVILLE B E A V E R | Friday, D ecem ber 1, 2 0 1 7 | 1 4 Teagan was an `angel' who loved anim als and sports continued from p.1 "When I was writing her eulogy I was trying to think of something bad she had done I could turn into something funny and in her 10 years, I couldn't find anything. There was nothing she did that was inappropriate. No calls from school saying that she did anything to anybody. She was just this unique, beautiful little girl." David described his little girl as an avid animal lover who wanted one day to become a veterinarian. He said she loved reading, especially the adventures of the young wizard Harry Potter and the graphic novel series, Amulet. Another of Teagans passions was sports, with the young lady trying out hockey and horseback riding before settling on something she truly enjoyed, rock climbing. Evidence of another talent can be seen in the form of a bear tattoo on David' s right arm. He said Teagan drew the little character a few years ago and he had it made into a tattoo after she got sick. He even replicated the signature Teagan added to her drawing as best she could while she was ill in bed. "My tattoo artist friend asked me if I wanted him to fix it up and I said, `Absolutely not. You leave it exactly the way it is,'" said David. Problems for the White Oaks Montessori School student began in May during the Victoria Day weekend when her left leg was injured in an accident. Persistent pain led to a consultation with a family friend, who was also an orthopedic surgeon, which led to a visit to Sick Kids Hospital. "I thought maybe it might be an infection or a fracture in her femur... There weren't any flags like weight loss or fatigue or sickness. She seemed completely 100 per cent healthy. It was when they said they needed to do a bone biopsy that I realized something really wasn't right," said David. "They called us in and I knew it was bad because there was a social worker, an oncologist, a surgeon. They closed the door and told us they had found osteosarcoma in her left leg and were going to have to amputate it at her thigh. That was probably one of the worst days of my life." The little girl' s long-term prognosis was also grim. Plans for Teagan' s surgery changed over the next two weeks with her doctors ultimately deciding on surgery to replace her hip, femur "She sort of liked talking about it. It bothered her when people stared at her and felt sorry for her." Teagan' s health deteriorated as the cancer spread throughout her body with radiation therapy doing little to stop it. David and Renee succeeded in granting one last wish for their little girl by getting her to Disney World in Florida so she could meet her favourite Disney princesses. Despite the pain she was in, David said her thoughts continued to be for her parents and her brothers Declan, 10, and Aidan, 13. This compassion was especially clear a few days before her death when she noticed her father crying. "She kind of pulled me into her arms and was rubbing my back and she said, `Don't worry Daddy. I'm going to be alright,'" said David, choking back tears. "That was the type of person she was. Just compassionate. Never once did she say, `This hurts' or `I don't want to do this anymore.' She fought through the whole thing, right up until the day she died. They told us she only had a couple hours and she lived another 14. Her little heart just wouldn't quit." David said he and his family have been overwhelmed by the community support they have received since Teagan' s death. He said hundreds of people attended her funeral Nov. 13, which he called a testament to just how remarkable his little girl really was and how she was able to touch people' s hearts. Today, David and his family are coping with Teagan' s loss, and he says it' s difficult. The house is full of memories of her that are painful for him to see, but which he can't bear to part with either. "You have your moments that can be triggered by something as simple as seeing another little girl with her parents," said David. "You want desperately to go up to that parent and say, `Hug your child.' Every second just tell that child how much you love them because you don't know how fast it can change." David said those who wish to honour Teagan can do so by donating to the Oakville & Milton Humane Society at omhs.ca. He said funds could also be donated to the Oakville Terry Fox Run at www.terryfox.ca/ terryfoxrun/oakville. Teagan Walsh | Walsh Family photo and knee over amputation. David and Teagan' s mother, Renee, took this as a positive sign that they were making the effort to save her leg. Teagan herself endured 13 hours of surgery and then fought to meet each of the doctor' s physiotherapy requirements so she could be released from the hospital early. Now confined to a wheelchair, she voiced concerns about not being able to go on her favourite nature walk at a provincial park in Orangeville. David said moving Teagan in her conventional wheelchair in the environment of downtown Toronto caused her pain, so taking it off-road was completely out of the question. Even so, he wanted to get his girl to her favourite lookout spot in the park and so he contacted a wheelchair designer in Whitby, who upon hearing Teagan' s story, created a wheelchair for her, at no charge, that allowed her to accomplish the hike. "We got her there. It was hard. It' s about a mile and a half climb straight up, but Renee and I got her there," said David. "Despite her leg being jostled, Teagan didn't complain once and I've got pictures of her sitting on this lookout and she is so happy." As Teagan was fighting the same type of cancer, which had afflicted Terry Fox, she was selected in September to officially start the 37th annual Oakville Terry Fox Run. Teagan spoke to the Oakville Beaver on that day and shared her thoughts about the event. "I really liked it. It' s just a fun thing to do," she said. "Everyone knows what you've gone through because you came here to the Terry Fox Run, so you can just be normal and you can meet a lot of new people." While Teagan enjoyed meeting people, David said she didn't like it when people stared at her when she was in public. David recommended she smile and say "Hello" when people did that, which led to more people stopping and talking with her. "She was never ashamed to tell people she had cancer. She was very forthright about it, very open about it," said David. Tp J O H N P A L A D IN O T is tJ ie S e a s p n +o T m v w The Gift that Keeps on Giving! 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