Virden Animal Hospital’s pet pictures with Santa will provide pet owners with a Christmas card worthy picture and the proceeds will go toward helping Kennedy Langevin and her family. On Saturday, Nov. 12, Julie Mason will be behind the camera to capture sweet moments with family pets.
For at least a decade, Virden Animal Hospital has made an opportunity for pet owners to have a fun Seasonal photo of their beloved animal family member. There’s a small cost to the photo session and every year that money is donated to a family with a health crisis.
This year the Santa pet pics will help the Langevin family.
Kennedy, a Virden Collegiate student, was injured and has been in a Winnipeg hospital for months.
It was July 2 when Kennedy was in a traumatic barrel racing accident. She was STARS airlifted to Health Sciences Centre and a received life saving craniotomy as her brain was swelling. She remained in a comatose state for a number of weeks in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit before being stable enough to transfer to Children’s Hospital.
She continues to receive intense physical therapy daily while healing. With a traumatic brain injury, the doctors will not give any type of prognosis for a year.
Kennedy has made progress, as her mum’s Facebook posts reveal: “Kennedy had a couple great days at Physio. Nice weather allowed us to walk down to the house (Winnipeg residence where Jodi stays), as well. When we got back to hospital, we changed rooms. So, she was in chair a lot longer than normal. It was exhausting for her.”
An occupational therapist recently visited the Langevin home in Elkhorn to help the family know how to prepare their home for Kennedy’s eventual discharge. They may actually need to renovate to accommodate a wheelchair and lifts. A wheelchair-accessible vehicle may also be required.
As of Nov. 7, Jodi says there’s no date yet for Kennedy’s return to home. “We do not have a discharge timeline as of yet. She is benefiting from the therapy here. With lack of resources closer to home, it makes it more difficult to plan for discharge.”
Jodi is thrilled to hear of the vet clinic’s plans to donate the proceeds of the Santa pet pictures session to her daughter’s needs and says, “It is so very humbling. The support we have been shown has left us speechless. This has been a long four months but having such support makes it easier to get through.”
With help from fundraisers, the load will be a little lighter. Jodi adds, “I truly don’t have the words to express how truly thankful we are. We are so proud to be a part of this community.”
