Champion for Charity Beth Borody mines McMaster memories of her son Judah’s hospital stay
By Jeff Hicks
HAMILTON —
The race — The Cuteness 500 — was on.
Judah, cherubic Bam-Bam cheeks with a blond Pebbles hair-do, pulled up to the imaginary starting line, IV stand in tow, on orange tricycle No. 24.
Beside him, his step-dad Jeremy, backwards Blue Jays cap pulled tight, was crammed into yellow tricycle No 46. Jeremy’s knees reached uncomfortably towards the ceiling in the indoor playground area at McMaster Children’s Hospital.
Judah’s mom, Beth Borody, held the metaphorical checkered flag and smiled.
This is what Judah, now nine, remembers of his three-week McMaster stay.
Not the painful staph infection in his hip that confounded doctors at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener enough that they sent Judah to McMaster.
Not the surgery that left him with a scar on his hip. Not the endless needles that made him bellow like a banshee while patient doctors poked him as gently as they could.
None of that icky stuff that, six years ago, left his mom — founder and chief executive officer of The Femina Collective, an organization committed to radically changing the experience and representation of women in the world-wide mining industry — feeling as emotionally battered as a punch-drunk fighter.
“Judah had so many tests, so many needles, the surgery itself and going under anesthetic — he doesn’t remember any of that,” said Borody, now one of Mandy Bujold’s Champions for Charity who will enter the boxing ring on April 4 to raise money for MacKids.
“He just remembers all the good times he had at the hospital.”
The playgrounds. The Superhero visits. The Batman stuffie that cuddled with him in his hospital bed. The popsicles anytime he wanted. His favourite was orange, but red would do.
“McMaster has a quality of care that’s unlike anything I’ve seen anywhere else,” said Borody, a graduate of political science and global studies at Wilfred Laurier University.
“The staff were amazing.”
Borody’s father James used to work at a hospital. Her mom Cindy was a teacher.
That was in West Africa, where Borody grew up in the intense heat of the Sahara desert.
Funny how the sands of time shift. Six years after the Little Trikes race at McMaster, Borody and Jeremy are celebrating the first birthday of their daughter Rose.
Rose always greets Judah with hugs and kisses.
“It is so special to see their bond,” said Borody, who is Canadian by birth and by passport.
“She’s such a happy-go-lucky baby. So happy and independent. She’s so determined to do things her own way.”
So is her mom. On fight night, the three-year-old she cheered on to recovery at McMaster will lead her into the ring at sold-out Tapestry Hall, as the Champions for Charity community and business leaders aim to raise $500,000 for MacKids.
Judah is already thinking about his entrance, what he’s going to wear. When mom comes home from boxing training, tired and tomato-faced, he tells her she looks like she worked hard enough. When mom is tired and questions the whole endeavour, he tells her he bets her opponent isn’t doing that. His verbal jabs always land with inspirational sting.
“He keeps pushing me,” Borody said.
“He said, if I get in the ring and I’m able to land a double-uppercut, he’s going to be really proud of me.”
So who won The Cuteness 500? Everybody.
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