News
Children's patients visit Iceland
Through the generosity of the Icelandair Special Children's Fund, a small group of Children's Hospital Boston patients and their parents were given the opportunity of a lifetime: three nights and four days in Iceland, a country of the size of Kentucky on the border of the Arctic Circle. Accompanied by a small team of clinicians, the four teenagers with chronic illnesses—strangers whose paths would otherwise never have crossed—bonded over their shared hospital experiences and became fast friends in a country 2,500 miles away from home.
"This trip was very special for us, because Cody was able to go away and be with other kids who have special needs," says Heather MacWhinnie, the mother of Cody Huntington, 14, and an OR nurse at Children's. "Kids with cystic fibrosis aren't allowed to be together, so he found great support with this group of teenagers. They're each dealing with their own issues but they also have a lot in common."
On the bus to the Reykjavik hotel, at the crack of dawn following an all-night flight, Casey Roach, 15, and Cody claimed the back seats and invited the other near teens, Brianna Unsinn, 14, and Amiel Reid, 15, along for the ride. It became a regular routine, the teenagers in the back, laughing, singing and talking about everything from music to their lives at home to the interesting culture of a country they had never imagined visiting.
The Icelandair Special Children's Fund was founded five years ago by Sigurdur Helgason, former President and CEO of Icelandair, and his American-born wife, Peggy. The fund's original purpose was to give children from Iceland with long-term illnesses or other difficult circumstances an opportunity to see other parts of the world. Since then, Helgason and his wife have expanded the program to bring children who are ill from other countries to visit Iceland. Children's was the second U.S. hospital to have the opportunity.
Children's International Program—as well as individual clinicians here—have had a fruitful and longstanding relationship with the people of Iceland and its national health service. Over the last two years, 58 Icelandic children have come to Children's for treatment, for a range of complex and life-threatening disorders that were unable to be treated there, including cardiac disease, epilepsy and other neurological disorders, immune deficiencies, genetic disorders and other conditions.
This trip for Children's patients to visit the breathtakingly beautiful island of volcanic rock and glaciers brought this relationship with the people of Iceland full circle. Says Jackie Unsinn, mother of Brianna, 15, who was treated for ulcerative colitis, "In the wake of Brianna's recovery from a long, three-and half-year illness, this came at a time to support her continued healing. It meant so much to Brianna—she was not only very happy, but proud, to be included. And it meant so much to me to see her so excited and able to enjoy such a beautiful trip. It's a memory that both of us will cherish forever."
