Champion for Charity Meghan Snyder recalls the ‘compassion’ of McMaster Children’s Hospital
By Jeff Hicks
KITCHENER
There’s a black band wrapped around Meghan Snyder’s heart.
It matches the tattoo she got last year to sear the memory of her lost son Logan into her right bicep. Adorned by first-love lilacs, from Meghan and husband John.
Embraced by the initials of her two puck-chasing sons Max and Beau, 12 and 13.
“I’m always looking at it,” said Snyder, one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity, community and business leaders, who will make their fundraising boxing debut for McMaster Children’s Hospital in The Brawl at Tapestry Hall on April 4.
“I’m always thinking of him.”
Always thinking of Logan when training to support MacKids.
Always remembering the 5 months of compassionate support Meghan and John got from the medical professionals at McMaster in 2007 when Logan was born early at five pounds with a rare syndrome that presented him with escalating health challenges.
“I still remember the kindness and compassion of the doctor sitting in the room,” said Snyder, who has run Snyder’s Family Farm with John for a quarter-century down New Dundee way.
“Just the genuine care and time they gave us. I still remember how busy it was, how many things were happening. But you never felt like you weren’t their first priority.”
Logan came home in a tangle of breathing and feeding tubes.
How could he be so happy in the face of so much discomfort and so many surgeries?
Snyder, who studies recreation and business at the University of Waterloo, was amazed by his cheerful resilience. Near the end, the challenges became overwhelming,
The grief was staggering.
Meghan and John, who initially couldn’t contemplate attempting to have children again, lost themselves in the hay rides and corn mazes of their work. Their family farm experience business grew tenfold over the years. The staff of 25 became 250 part-timers.
School trips came. Someone shouted out for a boy named Logan.
Snyder would weep.
Now, she boxes with Logan’s cheerful competitive spirit in mind.
A loss that was once isolating and paralyzing now has Toronto-raised Snyder surrounded and supported by Red Team Champions for Charity friends and teammates.
Their cause, with a fundraising goal of $500,000, is to help kids like Logan and parents like Meghan and John survive difficult times and thrive.
“If you don’t go through something like that, you don’t realize those things can happen,”
“It made us stronger and more resilient.”
It’s a fighting attitude she can share with Max and Beau. They never knew Logan, who would be 17 today. But they know he’s their brother in the unfair boxing ring of life.
Occasionally, Beau might claim to be the oldest. Then both brother realize that honour will always belong to Logan.
“It’s cute,” Meghan said.
“When they do mention Logan, it’s like he’s part of the family.”
Max and Beau and Logan. And Meghan’s favourite flower Lilacs.
All honoured in a tattoo on their mom’s right bicep.
“As soon as I get to training, I think of Logan,” Snyder said.
“Death is not something people easily talk about in our world. So, for me, this is a lovely way for me to have this moment with him.”
To support Meghan, click here.
Thank you to our Champions Spotlight Sponsor TD Bank. TD sees the challenges women-owned and woman-led businesses face – but we also see, and can help you seize, the opportunities. That’s why we’ve built a Canada-wide team of Women in Enterprise bankers to provide you with the banking advice, tools, and resources to help you confidently build your business. Learn more.
