Dr. Canning gave of himself completely in doing his utmost to improve every child’s life that he touched, to the best of his ability. He always put his patients’ care, safety and quality of life first in every conversation and plan of care. The entire BE community will miss his tremendous passion, kindness, availability and great skill. 

“Imagine the feeling of sleeping on a wet bed every night and to wake up very early to clean it and put it on the roof to dry before people wake up.” 

Khadidja’s childhood memories are mostly of struggle. She often leaked urine and kids her age always made fun of her. They criticized her for how she walked, and how her thighs never looked as “normal” as theirs.

Johnson, now a grown up boy, looks so healthy and energetic. He told me, “he feels pretty fine.” He has not had any health complications for some time now. Johnson is still in school and progressing well, currently in primary three.

Treasure is now a joyful three-and-a-half year old and currently has no major health challenges. Although she has not been able to be seen in person in the clinic, A-BE-C has been able to care for her remotely through telemedicine.

Late in the day at a makeshift ‘medical mission’ clinic in the Bahamas as the doors were closing for the day, a family hesitantly knocked on the door. Judging by the looks on their faces, the volunteer nurses knew they were desperate for help. Avles, an adorable five year old boy stood before them – they could smell him before they met him. Alves’ father, Lucner, out of desperation and faith asked if they would see his child, not really expecting they could do anything.

We recently had the rare opportunity to get some words of wisdom from Australian, Tom Flood, who was born in 1930 with bladder exstrophy. In those days, very little was known about bladder exstrophy and no treatment options were available. His parents were told that Tom was not expected to survive and if he was not in pain, just to leave things as are. But Tom had other plans! 

A-BE-C has teamed up with a group of physicians in a coordinated effort to send much needed oxygen concentrators to partner hospitals in major cities in India, to aid in their continued fight against Covid. India is experiencing the world’s worst outbreak, with 400,000 new cases each day.

Dr. Bradley Kropp, of OKC Kids Urology, talks about how the bladder works and why it’s important for bladder exstrophy.

Check out the video from our virtual back to school conference, where we discussed back to school concerns for BE kids and families, talk about Covid related issues, and provide tips for bathroom procedures.