The smiling face of this year's Alberta Children's Hospital Lottery is Cochrane's own Anika Gibson-Craig.
The annual lottery has been a major fundraiser for the hospital for the last 27 years, providing over $29M for ground-breaking initiatives that have helped the hospital become a leader in national and international children's healthcare and research.
At only 13 years of age, she wears her sense of humour and self-confidence on her sleeve and was bestowed with a smile to match her personality at age 8, courtesy of surgery at the Alberta Children's Hospital.
"People say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and I think a smile is," said Anika, who is the shining star at today's public launch event at the Homes by Avi showhome that is the grand prize in this year's home lottery in the Southeast Calgary community of Walden.
The Grade 7 RancheView student lives her life with a rare congenital disorder called Poland-Moebius, which has resulted in five surgeries in her young life at the Alberta Children's Hospital – most notably her facial reanimation or "smile surgery" at the hands of renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Rob Harrop (who Anika giggled is her favourite friend from the hospital).
For Anika, who is quick to show off her left hand and demonstrate how deftly and quickly she can use it, it's all just another step to allow her to share her story to help others.
"I want to make a difference in the world, even if nobody sees me making a difference," said Anika, adding that she would like to one day work with children with special needs or developmental disabilities.
"No one else in the entire school can say they will get a chance to do this," remarked Anika, on the heels of a photo shoot where she proudly sported her signature glasses and colourful sense of style.
"We want people to understand the stories and the bravery that goes on here," said Liz Ballendine, vice-president of the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.
"We're always amazed by the positive and upbeat nature of these kids ... they meet everything head-on," said Ballendine, noting Anika's vivacious and bubbly personality that make her a perfect fit to be this year's face of the campaign.
Her big personality has always been embraced by her family, who encourage Anika to lead with her heart and make her own decisions.
"Anika is such a passionate person and so prepared to share her story. She's now starting to get a voice for it – not just for Poland-Moebius, but how someone can have such passion for life," said her father, Scott Gibson-Craig – a sentiment echoed by her mother, Rose.
"It's so fitting she had smile surgery because when she smiles, that just shows who she is," said Rose. "She's just as interested in learning about other peoples' stories as she is to tell her own."
"Poland" refers to the absence of her large left pectoral muscle, club left foot and underdeveloped left hand. "Moebius" refers to her facial paralysis and inability to move her eyes from side to side, due to her sixth and seventh cranial nerve impairment.
Both Poland and Moebius are rare syndromes that stand alone. It is even more rare when they present together and according tot the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, the estimated prevalence of those living with the two syndromes is one in 500,000 – although the family has been told by other medical professionals this figure could actually be as rare as between one in 1 million or higher.
While the family learned of most of Anika's specialties at an early age, the diagnosis of facial paralysis came later. When she was a baby and would flop her head to meet her cooing parents, Scott and Rose would joke that their infant had a "Popeye face" and was giving them the "eye" when she was a baby by turning her head in the direction of their voices, only to learn that her eyes were not able to move from side to side.
Her 'smile surgery' at age eight adds to a list of five surgeries that Anika has had, including a tendon transfer on her club foot; two eye surgeries; and a small plastic surgery to increase the gap between her thumb and index finger.
"We always knew there would be challenges, but that there would always be a way to adapt so Anika can do anything," said Scott.
"Anika is a great example of a child who has benefited from incredible surgical innovation at the Alberta Children’s Hospital when her surgeon performed an intricate procedure – called ‘smile animation’ to allow her to smile for the first time," said Ballendine.
This year's campaign is fundraising for surgery – a state of the art surgical microscope and an advanced video intubation system that will assist surgeons with highly complicated and intricate surgeries and constructions for children.
The Alberta Children's Hospital credits the generosity of the community to help facilitate their many projects and expansions, including their current initiative to build a new centre for child and youth mental health through their Build Them Up Campaign – which seeks to combat the statistics that one in five children and teens struggle with mental health issues and that 70 per cent of mental health problems begin in childhood.
To learn more, visit childrenshospitallottery.ca.
