Harrison Ivor McKinnon

Our hearts have shattered into a million pieces... after a brief and unexpected battle with an insidious and relentless infection, we kissed and held our darling Harrison for the last time.

On June 17, 2017, 2:15pm, at the age of 2 years, 9 months, our beautiful, sensitive, thoughtful, cuddly, funny and infinitely brave firstborn baby boy peacefully gave up his fight and left all his pain and suffering behind. We are left heartbroken that we will never know the amazing person he was destined to become, but so honoured and thankful that he chose us as his parents so we could know how full our hearts and lives could be. Because of him, we know a love we never guessed was possible before he became ours for his short time in this world. 'Mamoo' forever, Little Love. 

Left behind to mourn our great loss and celebrate having had him in our lives are his heartbroken parents Barrett and Shannon (Davies); baby brother Jack who will never know how awesome his big brother would have been; Loving and Adoring grandparents GaGa (Donna Barrett), Grandpa & Grandma (Dave and Deb Davies), Nana (Diane Tait); Auntie B and Uncle RandyRoo (Bri and Randy Crossen), and Uncle G (Gavin Davies); Cousins Cohen, Aisling and Aveya who would have had so much to teach him; dear chosen family Chris and Natalie Gorman, Sean Smith and Krista Royce, and their kids Sloane, Maeve, Evan and Owynn who will never have the honour of being forced to be best friends "because we said so". 

Harrison had an army of people behind him the whole way - all sending love and praying for a win from both near and far. For this we are endlessly grateful. Know that all your prayers, texts, emails, phone calls, and gifts went such a long way toward keeping us fighting. Although many of your kindnesses went unanswered or unacknowledged, they were cherished and instrumental in our battle. 

From the beginning of our fight the paediatric team at PRHC have been our number one champions and supporters - doing everything and anything in their power to help make our path a little bit easier to walk and whatever they could do to help make Harrison well. Shay, Jodie, Tyler, Ellie, and Darby - you were some of the only “strangers” who could make him smile and we trusted you implicitly to do the best for him and care for him as you would your own children. 'Thank you' will never be enough. 

We would like to express our heartfelt and endless thanks to our exceptional medical team at Sick Kids, who treated us with amazing compassion and kindness, and more like family than patients. Dr Joe Marcinko, who never stopped looking after our family from beginning to end. Haem/Onc : Dr. Sarah Alexander, RN Bina Gandhi, and Clinical Fellow Sami; BMT: Dr KY Chiang, Dr Kevin Weingarten, NP Carly Hong, Clinical Fellows Yogi and Noelle, RN's Anna, Donna, Kate, Vanessa, Kristen; ICU : Dr Brian Kavanagh, Dr Briseida Mema, RN Crystal. Sarah, Kevin, Carly and Briseida - your tender and loving care of Harrison in his last days and of those who loved him will never be forgotten. You are forever in our hearts and memories as truly special people. 

Harrison fought cancer relentlessly for more than half his life, with a remarkably sunny disposition and with an incredible bravery and strength that left us in awe of him in his short time here with us. In the end, he beat the beast twice, but ultimately lost his fight to a fierce and opportunistic infection that was able to overcome his body as a result of side effects of treatments he received to help him win his battle with cancer. This is true of so many children fighting in this war - if they manage to beat cancer, chances are good that they will eventually succumb to a complication of treatment. Childhood cancer receives roughly 4% of all cancer research funding dollars yet children who survive run the highest risk of late treatment effects because they have so much life left to live once they've beaten the disease. This desperately needs to change. In lieu of flowers, please consider making donations to The Children's Oncology Group Foundation (https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/childrensoncologygroupfoundation), an organization that funded the trial of the drug that ultimately helped Harrison beat his disease, donating blood in his name (www.blood.ca) or registering with the stem cell donor registry to help save a life like Harrison's (https://blood.ca/en/stem-cell/onematch-information-new-registrants).

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