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01st Jun 2017

Surgeons stitch up beloved stuffed toy for special needs patient

Anna O'Rourke

“It brings a tear to our eye.”

Surgeons at a hospital in Canada went the extra mile recently to brighten up a long hospital stay for a man with special needs.

The team at Concordia Hospital in Winnipeg worked to patch up Dean Heber’s stuffed wolf when they spotted that it was torn.

Michelle Heber/ Facebook

 

Dean, 23, has been undergoing treatment for recurring pneumonia at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit for a number of months.

He is non-verbal and developmentally delayed and suffers with epilepsy and cerebral palsy, his mother Michelle told CBC News.

The wolf has given Dean comfort throughout the hospital stay, she explained, as each time he is admitted to hospital, his parents get him a new teddy.

She praised the hospital’s staff for their efforts.

“They sewed him up right on the bed,” she said. “It looks like they actually used sterile gloves and all the right equipment.”

“It’s nice to see something happy happening… It just brought so much joy to everybody.

“It’s not something that would typically happen in an ICU. After two months, you really get to know these people and it means a lot.

“It brings a tear to our eye. The staff there have fallen in love with my son.”