Collin's Carventure is a scavenger hunt with heart named after a kid with a heart like no other. You wouldn't know it by looking at him but five-year-old Collin Beaton has more syllables in his chest than most.
Double inlet left ventricle with pulmonary atresia, and dextrocardia means that he has only three functioning heart chambers and his heart doesn’t connect to his lungs naturally. Apart from the occasional minor blue spell, you wouldn’t know anything about it. Thanks to the stellar team of health professionals at at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, he’s filled with energy, even after three heart surgeries.
That’s why his parents, Jenessa and Andrew, are hosting the third annual Collin’s Carventure as a way of saying thanks and helping other families.
“He's absolutely fantastic. Every time we go in to see the cardiologists, the nurses always comment that they can't believe he has a heart condition. A couple times, they’ve said, ‘honestly, he shouldn't even be here.’ He's doing amazing,” Jenessa said.
She describes her son as a miracle; she calls the staffers at the Stollery “miracle workers.” They go out of their way to accommodate the Beatons, just as they do for any other family, with fun distractions for the kids while they’re receiving treatments, and the greatest of bedside manners that help to make every kid’s visit as pleasant as possible despite the circumstances that brought them in.
“Seeing what they've been able to do with him, you would look at him today and you would have no idea that he has anything wrong with him at all. It's absolutely amazing.”
All those wonderful things that they do for the kids, Beaton added, doesn't get paid for by tax dollars.
“Any little bit we can do to help would be beneficial for them.”
Collin’s Carventure is set to take place starting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 8, but the deadline is roaring up quick on April 17. Only 50 teams of six people can register at $40 each for the app-based driving scavenger hunt designed by Andrew Beaton himself. The game will take them on a fun-filled joyride with 20 stops throughout Edmonton and St. Albert. Each stop features a puzzle or riddle that must be solved and entered into the Actionbound app before you can move on to the next. There are prizes to be won but it’s all in the name of helping the Stollery.
What’s more: it’s all 100 per cent COVID-friendly as people all race from the comfort and safety of their own cars.
Register your team by emailing the event co-ordinator at [email protected]. Learn more about the event by visiting facebook.com/events/1300029130396380.
