Bethany
Catherine McIntyre
April 1st, 1993 - July 17th, 2000
Bethanys Hope Foundation
Bethany, the seventh child of David and Lindey
McIntyre, was born in London, Ontario on April 1st, 1993.
Bethany was born as normal as her brothers and sisters and her early life
saw steady development, obtaining the usual milestones. Bethany's only
difficulty seemed to be her late progression in walking. She demonstrated
a difficulty with balance.
This problem was investigated in London and in Toronto and on August 12th,
1995 after an exhaustive eight months of tests this little 2 ½
year old was diagnosed with a terrible disease - Metachromatic Leukodystrophy
(MLD) . On the day of her diagnosis, Bethany was very much an active little
child and was playing with Lego blocks while her medical team explained
the dreadful prognosis.
Stunned by this revelation the McIntyre's searched for answers and hope for their child only to be told that the medical community had nothing to offer. One comment from a veteran Doctor in the room that afternoon that they will never forget was - " Why bother ".... after committing their family to fight for research for Bethany. This became the rallying point for the McIntyre's and their friends.
Bethany's journey saw her hospitalized several times as this terrible disease relentlessly stole her abilities one at time. Due to the loss of her ability to swallow only five months following her diagnosis, Bethany was operated on for a Gastrostomy and subsequently fed a special formula via a G-tube.
