Despite it being cut far too short, Rylie Nicholls loved life.
“Even though it was a short life, she lived a very beautiful life,” said Rylie’s mom Toni Nicholls.
The five-year-old Lake Country girl lost her battle with an aggressive form of cancer in October 2023, two years after her diagnosis.
“I was devastated,” Nicholls said. “Our lives were turned upside down.”
Little Rylie was diagnosed with Stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma and over the two years from diagnosis to her passing, spent a total of more than an entire year at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.
“We probably had about 24 to 30 admissions into the hospital,” Nicholls told Global News.
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Rylie received countless treatments including numerous rounds of chemotherapy and radiation and underwent a bone marrow transplant.
‘It is a very, very hard treatment to go through,” Nicholls said. “It takes you almost to the brink of death before it brings you back with the recharging of the body with the new bone marrow.”
Rylie’s story is just one of many.
It’s why the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation is again hosting its long-running ‘Festival of Trees’ campaign to raise money for the province’s only pediatric hospital.
“B.C. Children’s Hospital is the only hospital in the province that is dedicated exclusively to the health care needs of children and youth,” said Rita Thodos, executive vice-president of philanthropy for the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“There are over 1 million kids that rely on the services of the hospital within the province and the Yukon and over 4,800 of them come from the Okanagan region.”
The campaign kicked off last week and features sponsored trees at both the Delta Grand Hotel in Kelowna and the Mission Hill Winery in West Kelowna. There are also two other venues on Vancouver Island.
People are encouraged to drop by, vote for their favourite tree or make a donation online all in an effort to support the hospital’s critical needs.
“It could be like life-saving equipment that is especially tailored towards children and youth. It could be really innovative cutting-edge research or it could be new technologies that help provide new healthcare options for kids,” Thodos said.
One of the trees up at the Grand Hotel was sponsored by the Nicholls family, featuring some of Rylie’s favourite things including rainbows and unicorns and ornaments with photos of Rylie and other Okanagan children who have passed away.
“We talk … with some friends that have all lost their kids about how fiercely those children loved and I think it’s because they knew they were only here for a shorter period of time,” an emotional Nicholls said.
“She (Rylie) would grab my face and hold it and say, I love you, mommy. I love you a million jelly tots.”
They are words that will forever remain in Nicholls’ heart as will her daughter’s bright smile and sassy personality despite all the hardships the little girl had to endure in her short life.
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