Shaun Newman Podcast - (Replay) #425 - Mackenzie & Seth Bloom

Episode Date: December 24, 2023

Mackenzie took the 2 shots so she could play AAA hockey in Saskatchewan. Hear from her & Seth her father on the series of events that happen afterwards. To see the journey of where Mackenzie is now check out this video https://youtu.be/twm2DkgnhzQ?feature=shared Let me know what you think. Text me 587-217-8500 Substack:⁠https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast⁠E-transfer here: ⁠[e-mail]⁠m Website: ⁠https://silvergoldbull.ca/⁠Email: ⁠[e-mail]⁠Phone [phone] – general sales line, ask for Grahame and be sure to let us know you’re an SNP listener.

This is Tanner Nadeh. I'm Trish Wood. This is Tammy Peterson. This is Curtis Stone. This is Quick Dick McDick. This is Carrie the Don, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Happy Sunday, folks. Welcome back to the top 10 countdown of 2023.

Yesterday we had on The Cowboy Preacher, and it's like it has been all over the map, right? Like, I mean, you look back at the top 10, you had Dr. Robert Lone, Ken Drysdale, Jamie Sinclair, and Chuck Prodnick, Tamara Leach, Dr. Eric Payne, Dr. William Macchus, the raging dissident, Jeremy McKenzie, followed by the cowboy preacher, and now today it is McKenzie and Seth Bloom. Of course, McKenzie is the young adult, the young teenager, the young, I don't know, the young girl playing high-end hockey who was vaccine injured. And of course, she started, well, she had health issues, and they've been working through that ever since with actually a recent guest,

Scott Marzland and Pierre Corey. leading edge clinic in the United States doing some different things there. So this is, you know, this number three of the year, folks, you know, when we first sat down, I don't know if we understood what was going to happen with this podcast. But got to meet McKenzie and I already knew Seth and, you know, this podcast went to the moon and back, so to speak. And here it is again, you know, coming full circle. You can look in the show notes and I've provided.

provide a link to show where McKenzie's come since that podcast and, you know, and how she's getting her health back and different things like that. Either way, you guys and gals made sure to share this and made this the number three episode of 2023. So please enjoy McKenzie and Seth Bloom. Well, welcome to the Strong Newman podcast today. I'm joined by Seth and McKenzie Bloom. So first off, thanks for doing this and coming in. Thanks for having us. I don't know how to start this. I've never had. I'm trying to rack my brain,

and I don't think I've ever had a father-daughter-combo ever come in. So this might be a first for the studio, for the podcast in general. So I don't know where you two want to start. I'm kind of going to let you two grab the reins of this, and I'll just poke and prod as we go along. We can certainly pick on your dad for a bit if you'd like, McKenzie, you know, him tout and he listened to podcasts before podcasts as we start this thing. I'm like, well, that's interesting.

before podcast because I don't seem to remember recalling, downloading anything that resembled what goes on now? Well, in the earlier 2000s, they weren't called podcasts back there, but they were long-form interviews or lectures, maybe even. You had to download them off the internet, put them on a Zoom or an iPod Touch or something like that to listen to MP3s and wear headphones and walk around. Where were you finding these lectures from? That's funny. I don't know how I stumbled onto them, but I followed Q files, PID Radio.

There were lots, actually, and I still have them all saved on an old computer. And I probably have 10,000. How many times McKenzie has you told you this story? Well, in the past two days, probably three times. Okay, well, I can prove it. I do have them. Well, how will we start with a little bit of a background on yourselves? Just where you're from, you know, I... I don't know. Mackenzie, I certainly know you're a hockey player, goaltender.

Just give the audience a little bit of feel for, you know, maybe for McKenzie, age, where you're from, where you're going to school, just a little bit of background, just so if a person is tuning into this, they can kind of get a feel for who they're listening to. Hey, I'm 16. I'm originally from Turtleford, but this past school year I've been building in Notre Dame for hockey. and then I moved home probably two months ago because of a health issue from the shot. Sure. And we'll get into that. Your goaltender? Yeah. Why goaltending?

Well, I didn't plan to be a goalie, but one day dad brought home goalie equipment and told me I had to play because I wasn't good enough to be an out player. So that's the type of relationship. It wasn't that harsh. I realized back then when girls hockey wasn't as popular as it is now. The only way we would have girl teams in our area is if we found goalies. You can almost find skaters. You can't find goalies. And there was no one around. So we decided to go that direction and it worked out quite nicely. And I assume you excelled at it rather rapidly then because I mean like, correct me if I'm wrong. and you're playing AAA. It's not like you're just like in there and your shooter tutor by any

stretch of the imagination. Yeah, no, she, she grabbed onto it. The first year was a little bit scary. Iceings were, you'd hold your breath. But we went to camps and got her proper instruction. I briefly, oh, I went and bought equipment and tried to learn the position myself so I could teach. Then realized I wasn't good enough for that and we got better people in to help or learn. I assume being Cess daughter has its interesting moments. I'm sure my children would say the same thing about me. I don't mean that as a talking doubt or anything. I can't imagine my father buying goalie equipment and being like,

okay, you're going to do this, and I'm going to buy some to me so I can help you along. Well, he picks projects and kind of doesn't stop until he finishes them. And I guess goaltending was one of them. Are you happy that he took an interest in goaltending? because, I mean, it obviously opened you up some opportunities. In the long run, yes, but at the start, I kind of hated him for a bit. But we're good now. But we're good now.

Yes. It took a couple years to adapt to it. Seth, for the listener, obviously, you're the father of McKenzie, but maybe painting a little bit of a bitter picture. Where are you from? And I don't know, we tease you about listening to podcasts before they were podcasts. What's your background and I don't know, just a little bit if you want to share with the audience who we are? Well, our family grew up, we live in Turtleford. I grew up on a family farm just outside of Turtleford.

My wife lived in Vermillion, then moved to Calgary, and by circumstance we met when she was going to U of S. We are the prototypical normal family, just we're community. oriented, volunteer in the community. We've been on the minor hockey board. I've been on our local town council, you know, do stuff in the community, volunteer coaching, all of that kind of stuff. Mackenzie is our daughter, Thailand's my son, all play different sports. That's kind of where's normal as it gets. Fair. Well, let's talk then. You know, walks in the pandemic, you know, and kind of throws us all for a loop. I certainly have my side of it.

And I was telling you guys when we first had coffee, you know, the thing I was, I don't know, I was thankful for, but I mean, no matter which way I look at it, having super young kids, I hope, you know, and I guess we'll find out as the years go on, but I hope I shielded them as best I could from all the insanity that continues to kind of play out. from the Bloom's side of things, you know, walk me through it. And I don't know,

whatever you want to share, and I'll see if I can't poke and prod as we go. Well, first, from my perspective, you were probably lucky or having younger kids because you could shield.

We had two teenagers. That made things tough. With social pressures, sports, school, small town, everyone knows your position on things. And I was,

fairly vocal so people knew my position. I never wanted this for her, but they found a leverage point, and I guess by they, I mean the health system, the government, all of the above. And they found a pinch point that worked. And what was the pinch point then? It'd be hockey for us. The opportunity to go to Notre Dame. And for the record, like their program, everything about Notre Dame, we really liked. They did well. Well, my only problem with Notre Dame is they required two shots to go. And we had been given assurances at the beginning that it would be gone. Don't worry about it.

So we started down the path and when we were told it was required, I don't know how to back out of it at that point. And I couldn't find any way to get out of it. And how about from your eyes, McKenzie? you know, like, I mean, when I think back to my younger years when I finally got to, you know, kind of, I was a smidge older than you, but at 17, I got to go to LaRange for a month and play some junior A there. And then at 18, of course, as I was saying earlier when we were joking about Hellebuck and the Winnipeg Jets and a favorite goalie of yours that I played in Dryden. And certainly that was 18 and I got to go. And those opportunities at a young age, anytime. somebody like believes in you wants you to come play for their team and you love a sport it's like

heck yes like let's go like this is going to be a ton of fun so from your eyes uh or or your experience what do you recall about um the opportunity to go play notre dame uh and you know i mean the the requirements as sad as it is say overtook everything back then even even now in certain uh instances, you know, with the U.S., it's just taking them off May 11th. But I'm curious, from your eyes, how do you really, you know, walk us through it? Well, I never really thought I was going to get this shot. Like, it was never something I wanted to do. But playing the highest level hockey possible was something.

And I was overlooked a lot because of my height and being young. So when Notre Dame finally called me, as soon as they called me, I knew that's what I wanted to do. and I don't think there was changing my mind, even if it was to get the vaccine, because in my head right then that was the most important thing, was getting to go to Notre Dame and prove myself. And I didn't think of the consequences after. We had a moment. After they'd phoned and recruited, we went down toward the facility

and had to talk with the coach and met teachers and stuff. We were driving away. And I remember turning around to try and start the conversation. this is a more difficult decision than you think it is. And the look she gave me, if I said no, she wouldn't have spoke to me for 20 years, and I know that. And I don't blame you. I understand. But that was clear. And just your face was glowing until I turned around and said, but, and then you snapped.

And I get it. It's chasing a dream. pleasure dream. So lead us through it then. You decided to go to Notre Dame. Was there an opportunity, you know, like I think of Terry Anderson actually and religious exemptions and different things like that was, I don't know, just leave me through it. Maybe it was just like, no, we're just going to go get it, we're going to move on with life and not a big deal. Well, I thought at that point I hadn't heard anything bad from the vaccine yet, so I thought, well, if everyone else has it, no one else has yet I don't think it will happen to me because we hadn't heard any stories like that yet and

some people have had it for quite a while at that point so I didn't really think it through as much as mom and dad did I'm not sure where to jump in on that well we did go to our family doctor the three of us and sat down and I tried to force an informed consent debate with the doctor And it went for 20 minutes. And I pointed out all the risks, including, you know, potential reproductive health issues, which were clear. Myricarditis, paracaditis, everything that I knew was being talked about as potential. We did discuss it with the doctor. It was pretty frustrating because all I really got was safe and effective.

I beat away at that for a while and it turned into it will prevent long COVID. And Sean, as much reading as I've done, I can't tell the difference between long COVID and vaccine injury. It's the same thing. I haven't been able to find what designates the two separates them. When is this? When are you deciding Notre Dame is it? You're talking to the family doctor. Give me a time frame.

Is this 2021? 2021, 2022, May. Was it May? May is when I got the phone call and offered a spot. Started June, you went toured. And then I think July or August, we went to the doctor. Yes, yeah, because we, as of June when we went, well, we had that conversation leaving Notre Dame, went into Regina to Costco and kind of talked as we walked around. And I left, went out early, and then phone the coach back and told him my rest. reservations and that I didn't like the idea of her needing to be backed. And I am not throwing mud at the coach for this. He figured that it wouldn't, uh, it wouldn't be an issue by fall, that it was

disappearing and it wouldn't be mandated. So we kind of went with that. And I really liked the coach. Craig was a, is a really good guy. So we kind of went with that that, that let's kick the ball down the road. Let's agree to go. And, and, you know, hope that this disappears because a lot of signs in 2022 were this was disappearing. So we kind of made a gamble, I guess. When do you get the shot? Like what part of 2022? You mentioned the different months there as you get closer and closer to going

Notre Dame. When does it become apparent? Like, I'm going to have to get it. We got the email from Notre Dame in, what time did you, was it in August you moved down? Yeah. Okay. It was just over a month prior to having to move down that we got the email from Notre Dame saying it's required. You have to do it. And I think my second shot was like a week before I officially moved. It was right before you went.

Yes. So we had very limited time. We had to either do it or walk. And this is where I weighed into uncharted water. So apologies if I step on any hot button issues, anything like that, McKenzie, just trying to pull. out as much as I can from you. As soon as you get the shot, anything happened? Or is it, is it a long time before anything starts showing up? The first shot I was fine, but then the second shot I got sick for probably two days. Yes. But then for, I think two weeks, I was fine. So, yeah, the first shot, I was kind of closing my eyes. I didn't like it. I didn't know what to do, and it was happening. So after she'd had the first shot, I remember watching very carefully. I didn't know when they'd went.

I couldn't pick it out. There was no change. Color was good. She was happy, healthy, bouncing around. It's all good. After the second one, she came home immediately and kind of the typical flu-like symptoms and laid out, no energy, sleeping didn't feel good for a couple days. Well, this is your story.

I'll let you keep going. Well, then probably, once I moved to Notre Dame, like officially that's when everything started up I'd say and it started with bad back like I've never had back problems but like it was to the point where I couldn't sit comfortably or lay comfortably and I don't know why and then as soon as the back finished probably two weeks later my hips got bad I think basically this is and you can read about this about adverse reactions inflammation is one of the first thing to it happens, right? And that's what she had. She had a bad inflammatory response and it started in the back, moved into her hips to the point where it was hard to play, right? Limited mobility.

Are you still playing at this point in time? Yeah. I went to the Cairo once a week and I'd wrap myself up. We were treating a hip flexor injury, but it wasn't that. No, and we were trying a laser therapy and all kinds of different remedies because this is early on and I'm, I'm I hadn't even connected dots at this point. So we were trying all kinds of things to try and mitigate what was happening, but it wasn't working. It was just progressively kind of getting worse. Mobility was getting worse.

And as time went on, you started to pick up colds and little bugs and your color was changing. Your energy level was dropping badly. But she pushed through until about November. Well, and I just come back to you, McKenzie. First, it's a couple little things, and, you know, as a hockey player, you're like, oh, man, I can't, my hips are, and you just think, oh, I must have nagged something somewhere. I can just, you know, I like it.

It must have been that play where I stretched and all of a sudden it's, oh, it just won't get better and it won't get better. At what point do you start to think, and there's something odd going on here because I can't just seem to catch a break or, you know, I'm sick again or whatever it is. Honestly, for my hip and back, I never questioned it. I just thought I wasn't used to the pace of Notre Dame because we workout every day, cardio every day, skate every day, and I wasn't used to that. So I assumed my body would just take a while to adjust. But we didn't question it probably till end of November because then I got very sick on a bus ride home. And what's very sick?

Like I was coughing up green and red stuff. I couldn't breathe. My heart was racing fast. I just felt like death, honestly. Yeah, and by heart racing, like, we figured out around that time after our first trip to the ER. So you, sorry, Resseth, you go to the ER after this bus trip? Yeah, once we got home, my auntie picked me up and we spent 10 hours in the ER. I think it was more than 10, but it was all night plus.

And could, what did they say? well it's just to fill in so yeah she couldn't breathe and heart was racing like well above 200 we figured out at that point that we needed to start taking vitals ourselves so we bought a blood pressure cuff an apple watch so we could do O2 ECG and heart rate and monitor it as much as possible so we had all that stuff so we we didn't have those stats all written out it's Not like we're just thinking back and grabbing numbers. But when we went in, they did a chest x-ray. Yes.

A swab and a urine sample. And I think I had pneumonia and a... Well, that's where it starts to get interesting. Yes, the first doctor said that you had pneumonia. And so that's what I was treated for for a week. It was pneumonia. Yeah. Yes.

So we're a week later and you went back to school and... Feeling better? No, but... We had the Mandy Schwartz tournament coming up in a few weeks, and it's the biggest tournament, Notre Dame hosts. I wanted to be there for that. So I assumed if I went earlier, I could ease back into it before actually having to play.

Yeah, at this point she was still chasing the dream, wanting to play, pushing through. And for a lot of people, with symptoms like this where you're just having trouble breathing, it doesn't manifest physically where you can, like you Sean could watch her and go wow she looks sick he couldn't quite see that right except for a little bit of i'm not going to say panic breathing but so this must have been difficult on you because teenage girl doesn't matter if you're teenage girl it's a teenager boy you're playing a

competitive sport and you have something that isn't like your arms missing so everyone's like come on mackenzie just suck it up let's go here we got practice we got this we got this big tournament coming I assume that was a very challenging time. That was a huge problem. Like my teammates, through a mask, they can't really see that. Like, I honestly can't breathe on the ice. And cold air at that time would destroy me. And we kind of had a cold rink.

And so I'd be practicing and I'd have to step out of the net and I could feel people just glaring at me. Or people around campus, they'd be like, why is Kenzie so-and-so? Like, no one seemed to believe. that I was sick because I didn't look it exactly. And so that was harder because then I was scared that if I didn't perform 100%, they would never, it's not an excuse, but they wouldn't believe that I was sick and just blame me. I'm a 37-year-old man who fell on a puck the other day at noon hour hockey, okay?

And it hurt as only an odd fall on hockey surface can. and as you get older, it doesn't get better. And I'm like, I'm like, looking at my leg, and I'm like, for the love of God, can you just go black and blue? So when I walk in the dress room, people are like, you hurt yourself. Instead, I just sound like a big old wuss, even though my hip is sores. So this is, like, I think if you're a sports athlete, everybody gets it. You want to turn black and blue so everyone can go, oh, I get it. Sidney Crosby gets hit by who was that, a fetchkin?

Who was the guy from Washington where he has the neck problem? And you can tell for a long time, people were like, come on, sit, stop sucking it or whatever it is, right? And then he gets it, it's like this tail as old as time, honestly, especially in competitive sports. Unless your arms missing, people want you to run through it. Concussions are the one where you can't see it, but you know the guy's kind of, and I mean, think of it even today. You know, the guy just got smoked in the Ranger game by Truba, and you're like, now we're like, that guy's got to go for concussion protocol. What was it? Paul Korea.

What was that? Oh man, is that 1999? Somewhere in there. He gets crunched by Stevens, is out cold, and then comes back the same game and drills one top shelf. That's the way the culture is shifted. So anyways, I'm giving a little bit of background here, and just that I can see how teammates can be, because I've probably done it to other people as well, where you're

like, come on, just get in the net, let's go here. And for somebody to be battling with something like this that already the media and everybody else doesn't want to touch with a 10-foot pole, I assume why. I mean, I can assume a lot of different things from that. To be clear, just so this goes the right way, you left your teammates.

Oh, yeah. Because it might sound like you're... Oh, I got you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not trying to paint that picture at all. I do not want to leave that hanging because, I mean, her bedroom wall has team pictures all across it. That's what it is. There's no hard feelings. It's just normal.

No, and I guess that's what I was trying to say. It's normal for athlete. This is what we do. Right. That's what we do across the board. Even I assume soccer players who like to flop a little bit. Maybe not soccer players. Well, it was different in the way that the environment, like I felt the pressure because everyone's a student athlete in Notre Dame. Like everyone is pushing. through different injuries and the pneumonia, well, we call it the pneumonia, it seemed to be going on for way longer than it should be. I was done my antibiotics and I should be better at this point, but I wasn't getting better. And so Mandy Schwartz finally came and that was my first game back. And I remember going up the stairs after the game to see Mom and Dad and like having no energy

to even talk anymore. You did well at the game. That was the thing. No one could know. No one can tell that I couldn't breathe that entire game. I think the whole third period I spent wheezing because I couldn't catch a breath. Yeah, so. How scary is that? Well, I... Or frustrating. I don't know.

Maybe it's a different word for you. It's extremely frustrating. I didn't find it as scary because back in 2020, I was in playoffs, and it's right before COVID was like officially locked down. I was playing a game and I wheezed the entire game. game and I couldn't breathe and that was probably the scariest because you didn't know what was going on. Yeah, there's a backstory there. So yeah, just before COVID kicked off in February of 2020, we were playing Saskatoon in playoffs, Bantam AA. And you seem fine. When we went to the rink,

we played that game, nice, tight, one goal game. We did lose that one. But it was a really good game. But the defense kept coming back, I was coaching, kept coming to the bench and say, McKenzie can't breathe. I had no way to know if they're exaggerating or what, and she seemed to be all right. So we just let the game go, played to the end of the game. I remember you changed and came, got into the truck, and we were driving away. And you were kind of breathing like a dog. You were panting.

It was short, fast breaths, but just like that. And I remember talking to you. and asking you if you were all right and said, should we go to the hospital? And you're like, no, I feel fine. So we carried on, went home that night. And it calmed down after, on the drive home from Saskatoon, it calmed down.

Later, I mean, we're only three weeks later, COVID kicks off. And then we know things about COVID. The one thing you said after that was you lost your sense of taste and smell. Yeah, I had all the weird symptoms that were popping up, but I just didn't tell anyone because you didn't know them yet, so it sounded really weird. No, and I'll always remember that because I lost my sense of taste and smell. What?

That doesn't make sense. Then COVID comes along, we find that out. Clearly, she had COVID alpha, the original strain. And you played with two teams through playoffs. We beat Saskatoon out in game three. You had two back-to-back shutouts. Um proud dad yeah well you earn that so I'll quote it right and then played swift the next round and you played both those games good tight one goal games but the second game you were I I don't know what happened I still had the same breathing trouble like I couldn't breathe at all but then after just one shift I had to go to one knee because I was getting dizzy you could not breathe so I think you brought an inhaler over and I didn't breathe it all but then after just one shift I had to go to one knee because I was getting dizzy you could not breathe so I think you brought an inhaler over and I tried the inhaler and it didn't work.

We missed that part of the story. So we did take her to the doctor after the Saskatoon episode. They didn't have a clue what it was. They sent us to a respiratory specialist that did a type of stress test. Yes, made you go on a treadmill and then measured your blood oxygen and things like that. We never did get results from that, by the way. And that was in 2020. So that's three years ago.

That's awesome. but they called it, their guess was juvenile asthma. She's done cross-country, she's played sports, she never had asthma. That's what they called it. So they gave us a puffer to open up the airways. So we were using that and wasn't helping at all. Anyway, I guess to make a long story short, through that window of time, it lasted for, I don't know, three weeks. Maybe your recovery was another three after that to be back to normal.

But like we weren't playing sports anymore because COVID shut everything down. Yes. So I couldn't measure when I got better because I just did nothing for the first month. The point is you did recover from having COVID, the original strain of COVID fairly quick. And you played sports through it. This situation is totally different. So when you, when we go back to Notre Dame and now you're having these issues, you're struggling to breathe on the ice, do you continue to play after that or is it or what point are you like we have or is it more issues

start to I don't know show themselves well so that first game I did end up playing through it and then I think it was my next game we were doing an off ice warm-up and the air we were in a different rank and the air was so cold that I was wheezing just by doing like a little jog and so right before that game I had to pull myself and not play. And that was probably one of the worst experiences from this is having to pull myself, I don't know, it was probably 20 minutes before we were going to play

because I couldn't even do high knees or anything. So I didn't play that one. And the rest of the weekend, I just sat because my coach could tell I obviously wasn't getting better. And the goal was to make it to Christmas, have two and a half weeks off, we're going to recover, come back in January and be good. But then right after Mandy, I was finishing my fitness testing that I didn't do because I was away for pneumonia.

And I was doing bench press and something just felt weird. And so my coach told me, you can finish it another day, go upstairs. So I was watching practice and all's done there started wheezing. So every time I breathed in, I'd make an awful noise. And that probably lasted for an hour. And even I couldn't eat because of it. So my friend took me to our health care and they phoned the ambulance. and took me to Regina.

And I think I was on oxygen for three hours maybe, maybe five. Yeah, it was a long time. So we missed an ER visit in there. When you couldn't play that game with the cold rink, we took you to Moose Jaw to the ER and had them look at you. I was starting to question at that point. I was wising up to things, and I was worried about myocarditis, like heart issue.

issues. So there's a blood test they can do to look for troponin levels, which is a marker of heart stress. So we went to Moose Jaw to the ER instead of vagina because we assumed the weight time would be better, which we were right. Got in right away. They did do blood tests. And the troponin, I do believe, it showed two, which is low, but it's not zero. Basically, told you to take it easy and that was it. There wasn't a lot of information there, just the blood test, that's it, put you on oxygen briefly and then you came home with us. I think at that point, I also started having my chest pains. I think it was right after the pneumonia. I started having two different types of chest pain. One was a stabbing on my left side that would come and go and that one

would last like three seconds, but it would be painful. And then the other one was, just kind of a heavy chest, I can't breathe, because it felt like an elephant was sitting on me, and that was constant for quite a few months after. Until mid-February, actually. So there's a lot to add here. So we were really starting to worry at that point. Without using a name or even a pronoun, I ended up talking to a doctor that we knew,

and he read her history and all the symptoms. I already messed up with the pronoun, but whatever. I don't think anybody's going to piece that to you. Well, I'm being cautious. Yeah. So anyway, we talked to him, gave him the history and what's going on and whatnot, and off the record, because nothing was written down. This was just a phone call and a conversation.

He said it sounds like it's from the vaccine and you need to get a couple tests. And he explained what the tests were and that's as much as he could help. But I was very happy that he gave us that. So then I was on a two-month mission to get heart echo was what I was looking for. I couldn't find a doctor for two months that would do it. But eventually we did. And did the heart echo show anything? We just did it like a month ago.

Yeah. So in February, we ended up, we're jumping, there's so much to the story. In February, and I don't mean to jump you around. No, there's just so much to fill in. It's impossible to stay on timeline. In February, we had been referred by our family doctor to a specialist in Regina. And that was a massive waste of time. I'm actually still disgusted with that. Both my wife and my wife and I took the day off, went and got McKenzie. We took him to the appointment, walked in. They did a quick ECG and blood pressure went into his office. He checked with a stethoscope or breathing. And that was it. That was the complete testing that he did. We're at a specialist and that's all he did. He has a half drink Red Bull on his desk, completely disinterested. I discussed things with him for probably 15 minutes to tie him up. But the one thing I did get him to agree to was an echo. So we left that appointment. Oh, actually, there's more to that. So he looks at McKenzie near the end of the meeting appointment and says six to nine months, you'll be okay. That's it.

She started to tear up because that's the end of her season. And he callously just looks at and says, why are you crying? As a dad, I wanted to lose it, but he agreed to give us the echo and I needed that echo. So we just got out of the office and went and regrouped, went and had supper, and tried to get everything settled again. And we ended up getting the echo results back who I think it's two and a half weeks ago. And there's a written report on it. And the first half the report says that I have fluid around my heart. But then when you keep reading at the end the report, it says there's no fluid around the heart, and we've been trying to talk to people to find out what it actually is. So the report was written poorly enough, our family doctor couldn't

interpret it. So she has to go back to whoever interpreted the results to find out what it actually said. If it's abnormal fluid build up around the heart, it's a sign of paracidigitis. We've been waiting two weeks for that answer, and we have phoned the specialist that ordered it, and we've phoned our family doctor. We're not getting answers. I haven't discussed with public health that I don't know I can communicate properly. They just don't care.

There's a narrative. They are protecting it. And it's disgusting. Like there's a 17-year-old kid in front of you. The person is supposed to matter. We went through all of COVID with no one can get COVID. We've got to keep everyone safe. Well, where'd that go?

don't seem to care about keeping people safe now. Because it doesn't fit the narrative. Actually, I'll go a little farther than that too. I can't believe that the doctors, all the doctors don't care. I can't quite get there. But the College of Physicians who hold their careers at ransom, activist, leftist, fools,

they control the doctors. And if a doctor speaks up, How many of you had on your podcast of doctors that have spoke up? Lots. They do not have income anymore. They do not have a license. And that is the top of the food chain. That's what has to change.

If doctors were allowed to test and to look, time and time again, we went into appointments. And they had pre-decided what they were going to say before we sat down. Because they'd read a chart. They knew where things were timeline from. They were timeline from the second shot. The inflammation started and inflammation is one of the first things the body does when it starts to get in trouble. The immune system kicks off an inflammatory response.

That's what it does. It all timelines properly. No one. Well, I shouldn't say no one. So it's more of that story. Canadian doctors won't look at that because it might cost them their job. Most likely it'll cost them their job. I know.

But that's got to change. like the Freedom Convoy probably the first thing it did was well from all the people on the side of the road etc etc it showed people we're not alone the people that were thinking against the narrative we weren't abnormal

there were a lot of people like us this is maybe the same right people need to speak out on this because there are a lot we aren't alone is my point i guess to connect that thought what's happened to mackenzie there are thousands of mackenzie's out there yeah and i i always go my hesitation if there is one reservation is maybe the of having someone as young as you on is i'm just like oh man like i i don't think anything bad ever comes from this i don't think right? Because I agree with your dad and that I think there's going to be people that are going to

reach out and say thank you for saying what I could not or I didn't have the opportunity to say. But at the same time, you're so young, it's like, it's got so much life ahead of you, you know. But in the same token, you also have experienced something that they say isn't happening and has never happened or, you know, safe and effective and all these different keywords. And you're living out an experience that I think a lot of people's hearts just break for. It's like this should not have happened and yet it has happened. And how many people are suffering in silence, trying to deal with this by themselves, not finding any help in the health care system?

Because we didn't. Okay, I'll go there. So through connections, we'll just put it that way, we got the number out of an out of, a number for an out of country doctor. And we reached out to them. I mean, you're obviously paying for it at that point. But for the first time, we did a video conference on the first appointment, but we uploaded all the history, everything, plus symptoms, plus our vitals,

plus all our observations, everything. A lot of data, and we collected it well. Sent it to him had our first conference, and within five minutes, we had a diagnosis, and we had treatment. and both of which, actually it's even better than that. We had both those, plus he gave treatment options, a gentle approach or a more aggressive approach, and let us choose. He also added papers, research papers, resources, videos to explain why he diagnosed the way he did and why the medication that he was looking to use would help.

I mean, it was busy because there was a lot to read and there was a lot to watch that consumed me for probably two months, but I absorbed as much I could. Anyway, the point is, immediately you had answers. And we had been fighting in Canada looking for answers for three months, three, four months, well, three months actively. And probably had seen 12 doctors by that point with nothing. No one who came close to a diagnosis. It's not even a guess. What they do is pass you. You go in?

Well, we're actually not sure. I'm going to send you to a specialist. You go to the specialist. Well, we don't know. Wait six to nine months. Come back in three. Why would we come back? What did you think of the video conference of having a doctor say?

I'm pretty sure this is what you have and here's why. Well, I found it kind of weird because I don't know. I've never heard of it. And dad said it's worth a try. So I went to the hotel with Mom and I had a game that day. So we were listening through it. And it seemed like he knew more about me than I did at that point. And he knew every single one of my symptoms by heart already.

And we've just met then. And he didn't just sugarcoat everything for me. He told me straight out what was happening. And he told me he does know how to fix it. And then I think he also reached us to another family that was also dealing with this too. A couple. I'm in contact with a couple families across Canada that have dealt with him. Yeah.

And we talk. Just so he could reassure us, it's not just us. And he's checked in once a week or something. Yeah. Yeah. But at that point, I'd come back to school after being home for two weeks to do testing, then leaving again for more testing. And I'd never have an answer.

So when people ask, so what's wrong with you, I couldn't tell them yet. So then rumors started going around that I was actually faking it because I couldn't handle the pressure. So I think it was mostly just a relief. I didn't care how severe the diagnosis was. I was just happy I finally had an answer. So when people asked me, what's wrong with you? I could actually tell them instead of saying, oh, I'm not sure yet. We're still trying, but it's been four months with no answers.

So I think to connect a lot of these things, that was an early. February that we had our first appointment with him and we chose the cautious approach not the aggressive approach from the international doc so we carried on we started all that stuff and it would have been late February we caught something else going on I was talking to her one night on the phone and we were just spitballing ideas And I'm like, well, developed allergies are another sign of vaccine injury, that you can develop allergies that just weren't there after being vaccinated.

So I told her to go to the rink concession and get reactin or something. Just try it once. It can't hurt. That's going to be fine. And she told me, I can't go right now because no one's there to go with me, and I'm not sure if I can make it. Oh, like, what? So I was home for testing, and while I was home, we went and saw some people just to lighten the mood and everything.

And I was walking out a Battleford rink after watching my cousin play, and I kind of felt like my legs just, I lost them under me, and I kind of just stumbled over my own feet for a second, and I thought nothing of it. And then the next day, Mom was dropping me back off at Notre Dame, and we were really. walking in a concession store and my legs just felt wobbly. Like I couldn't walk, but it only lasted like probably two minutes, so I thought I've been in a car for three hours. It's nothing. And then while every day went on, my legs got worse and worse. And so it started off with just two minutes. My legs felt weird. They hurt. I can't walk. And then by Wednesday, it was, it was, it was, I think it was half an hour to 45 minutes. I go to take a step and it's like my brain forgot how to walk and I'd lose my legs.

My knees would buckle. My legs go jello and I can't control them. So when I try to take a step, I'll fall or my legs will kind of just wobble. Like mom makes fun of me all the time and sings the wobble song while I'm walking because I couldn't physically walk on my own. So at that point it was happening maybe three times a day for half an hour. And I told mom, and I think I was scared to tell dad because I'd have to go home, and I just got back to Notre Dame. And I think one day I was walking back from eating supper with my friends,

and it happened, and they hadn't seen it yet because I've been keeping it a secret. And it was so bad that I had to have one person on each arm and someone holding my back, so I could walk on my, well, not on my own, but actually walked to my room. And by that Friday, I finally told Dad, my auntie came and picked me up, and it kind of just got worse from there. So there's some things to add to that. But, yeah, I was kind of in the dark until I accidentally caught that one phrase in a conversation. Then I got curious.

We got her to, when I heard it was happening, I went and got my sister who lives down there to go pick her up, get her to her house because she lives just outside of Regina. It's close to the hospital. We didn't know what was happening. So I got reading and I found something called the tip test. It's a test for pots. And I don't remember the long version of pots,

but it's a syndrome that you can get. So we got her to my sisters and we did the tip test, which is simply you lay down for a couple minutes and you monitor vitals, blood pressure, pulse, so to, everything while you do this. So she laid down for two minutes, then get up to a sitting position for two minutes, monitoring all your vitals through that, and then after two minutes stand up. And we triggered it. And we got it on video and we got the voice.

vitals and we like I was actually happy that night because it's like taking a car to the garage right yeah if it isn't acting out you're that's right and we figured out how to trigger it so I'm like yes we can go to a doctor and I're going to take this seriously because we can we can make it happen again well um that I think was on a Thursday right well it was during playoffs so mom came on a Thursday you're still playing hockey at this time no I think my last game was the middle of January. Yeah. At the start of January, I was playing full games, but like, I think in the most pain

I've ever been in and like needing my inhaler every fifth shift. And I think it was end of January. We went down to Battleford. No, we went down to Saskatoon first, and it wasn't my game to play. The other goalie was playing. but she got hurt. So I got thrown in and I managed. I played half the game.

I didn't do awful, but it hurt a lot. And then that next day, she was still hurt. So it was my turn to play. And I lasted one period. And I had to be pulled because I couldn't breathe. I was getting dizzy. My eyesight was going funky. Chest pains were unbearable.

So I think that was my last game. Yeah, I had forced you at that point. to have the BP machine in the dressing room with you, and I had your assistant coach pull you out to do it. And her blood pressure after that first period was 120 over 110. So the diastolic, anything over 100 is a big problem. That's stage 1 hypertension. Over 110, stage 2 hypertension. This is really, really bad. So yeah, that was when you stopped because heart attack was possible. But with the mindset, I'd be playing in a month. Like, I didn't, the leg thing was, we didn't have a clue that would happen. So I thought, I'll take a month off, be ready for

playoffs, and I'd be fine. Yeah, we kind of backtracked with the story. We're back in late, we're back in late January now. So, um, we're in, it's been, it's been a awful year then. I mean, not quite a year. I'm speaking really to, I mean, to both you, but I mean, you get the opportunity to go play AAA hockey, right? Love everything about the program. Got a bunch of great friends there. You like the coach. I mean, geez, you know, usually you don't have all those things going on. Usually one of them's out of whack. And instead, you're, you know, it's pneumonia. And you're like, oh man, just to go away. And then, you know, before that, I guess it's the sore hips, the sore back, the pneumonia and it just keeps progressively getting worse and worse and worse.

A couple things. The pneumonia, the ER visit that was, what, 10 days after, the first time we went in in November and they told you you had pneumonia. The ER visit where your ambulance did, the attending looked at her x-rays from 10 days ago and said, I think it was 10 days. be off. It said it's not pneumonia. That's not pneumonia. So again, we're without diagnosis. They called it pneumonia. They treated it for pneumonia. It progressively got worse for the next three months. I think we tried pregnazone too. Mid-January, yeah, our family doc tried a six-day cycle of

prednisone like a steroid, right? Yeah. She got worse the whole time we were on it. The last day we even debated not giving it to her that day because she was going downhill. Weird. Was it A steroid makes you worse. So I would probably say, because I've thought this a couple times, it's kind of a Dickens novel. It was the best of times and the worst of times. Like, she loved Notre Dame. Or you say it. Don't make me say it.

No, that's right. And the most challenging year you could imagine, you can't make this any tougher. And you gave me the opportunity to come home probably 15 times. Yes, because I was, I didn't. know how this story was going to end and I was not comfortable. And I think I said no very harshly every single time. You said no every time. I didn't get anywhere with that. But going back to when my legs went wonky, mom came to pick me up, but we were having our

first round of playoffs, so I wanted to watch. So we stayed for that game. And my walking at that point it would last four hours and I couldn't walk on my own. So my teammates would, the other two that were sick and sitting out, they would have to help me walk to the bathroom, walk to the dressing room. And I couldn't walk on my own at all at that point without having to hold on to something. And so after that game, we drove to Saskatoon because then I wanted to watch more hockey because my friend was playing. and during that game

oh before the game at 3 p.m. my legs went and it did not this was the longest my legs like I had no control over my legs for and it was 8 o'clock at that game and my right foot is your right yeah my right foot started twitching like unvoluntarily I couldn't make it stop it started twitching and that twitch lasted for 14 hours

So we went to the hospital and I stayed overnight and for 14 hours my leg just twitched. Tremmered and twitched. Not a little bit, a lot. Like I was kicking the air and it was painful because it started cramping up. But I sat there forever. Well, there's a bunch of things now we're into this part of the story. There was a blizzard down there because we probably all worked the right way here. That was on a Thursday.

We caught the first trimmer on camera and the tip test and figured out how to do it. Friday was the game and my wife went down to pick her up. But a blizzard hit. And it was a good enough blizzard down there that... PA had to stay overnight in our health care dorm. Yes, the bus couldn't leave. The bus was snowed in. Like, it was a gooder.

So they were there till Saturday afternoon before they could even get on the roads and make their way to Saskatoon. In Saskatoon, they decided to stop and watch this hockey game. Thank goodness they did because it would have been a longer drive the other way if you had it got home. So my wife called me halfway through the game and had a video of her leg. Just, I don't know the right word. Convulsing, shaking, trembling, whatever you want to use. But it was moving a lot. It actually looked a little bit like, you know, someone with CP, that type of thing.

He said, go to the ER now. So I got in the truck and I said, started driving because I was back home with our other kid. I was coaching a game with him. So we got to Saskatoon. I do have some complaints that I'm going to fit into this too. They admitted her, got a little bit of sarcasm from the nurse about how she got in the building. If you can't walk, how did you get in the building? Well, it was in a wheelchair. Why is all I've got to say about that. Anyway, I get a text from my wife. They took her because she's 17. They called her a mature minor.

So they moved her into a waiting room behind locked doors into a waiting room by herself. So this is a 17-year-old with a condition that we didn't understand, they didn't understand, didn't know where it was going, and took the parent out of the equation, put her in her own waiting room. So at that point, I'm in my own head driving down there, and all I could think of is they're going to boost her. They've got her by herself and they're going to come in and boost her because that's the answer. for everything. More COVID. Mark COVID boosters will fix it. So I drove pretty fast. I won't lie to you.

Got there and long story short, I got through the locked doors and we were with her the rest of the night. You were angry and it was probably the worst thing that could have happened for me getting through that door because you were not friendly. I took my anger out on dad. Oh yeah. Not in the nicest way. No, it was kind of vicious. It's funny now.

But anyway, like the leg trembling was bad enough, and we have videos of this. I took my coat off and tied it around her leg because she was hammering her heel off the wheelchair. Every convulsion would just heel kick the wheelchair. So I tied it up to try and keep you from breaking your heel. You were bruising already. Yeah, so that was fun. I spent all night accidentally figured out. when you fell asleep at like five in the morning, it shut it off.

She stopped tremoring when she fell asleep. And of course, being in a hospital, first thing they did was find a way to set it off again so they could watch it. You didn't feel like going back to sleep right away. But yeah, we had neuro come and go through everything and credit to them. They did a CT. It was clear, which was good. I remember asking if they would do an MRI as well and getting laughed at. They said you're not sick enough for a MRI.

We only do that for pre-surgery patients. I'm like, okay, so once we were done with that, we went and bought our own MRI in Edmonton and had that done. And that came back clear too. Like, this is how confusing this whole thing is. Can I ask as a parent, why did they not let your wife through when they deemed her a mature minor? Like, what was the reasoning?

because by now we're into early part of 2023, right? That's right. So why wouldn't they allow her to sit with? Mature minor. It doesn't make any sense to me, though. At that point, there's no... To me either, Sean. I was angry when I got there.

It didn't take me long to get past there. I got lucky and I used my head. I waited for one nurse to get away from the desk. And then I went to her and had a one-on-one parent talk with her. And she let me through. but they weren't letting us through. I can't explain it. I was angry, though.

Like, that's insane. I think we were in a room that was probably the size of the studio. So for the listener, that's 12 by 12. It was very small. There's no TV, no paintings. Like, it's just a blank wall. And it was me and two old men that were sitting with me. And at that point, my leg was cramping so bad that I was bawling.

And mom and dad were on the other side. of the wall. And who were the old men? Oh, I don't know. They became my buddies, though, because they saw me bawling and the nurse would not come over. Like, they just, they had other things they were doing. I'm not mad at them, but. This is a strange, you know, of all the story you've told to this point, this might be the strangest part. And that's saying a lot. We can probably make it worse if you want us to try. It's been a long ago. Well, I just carry on. I hate to interrupt. I just like, so you're in a room with nothing on the walls. Your parents are on the other side.

You got two men in there that you don't know. None of them are hospital staff. The nurse won't come in because that's strange. And they won't let a parent, like, carry on. I'm pointing out how insane this story is right now. Yeah. So, yeah, it was cramping so bad. And like dad said, my foot was bruising at that point because I'm still in my wheelchair.

I can't move to go to the bathroom by myself because I can't walk. myself I think my phone was dead so I couldn't really talk to anyone so I just kind of sat there so the old men made conversation with me you're asking how I was doing asking for my story and they were nice because they were taking my mind off of it until dad and mom finally were able to come in and um what were the old men in there for like it was it just a holding room okay it was like there was a waiting room and then they take you past doors and it's another waiting room to get into a... I think it was for

a more detailed look. Like they do their initial there's a word for it and I can't think but their initial look at your triagee basically, right? And then they put you in another waiting room to have and in her case it was neural. They wanted

neuro to look at her because of the leg, right? The twitching leg. I don't know what the others were in there for. I mean when I got in I was talking with her. and getting yelled at, so I have no idea what they were doing. The old boys were in for a show that night. Oh, boy. I was happy when her battery died on her phone because the texts were vicious.

If she could have figured out how to wheel herself out, she would have left the hospital that night. And I wouldn't let her. We were trying to get answers. It was like six hours in, and I'm done with hospitals at this point. I've been in and out of hospitals. E.Rs. Without one answer.

Yeah. And I didn't want to go through another. You're fine. Go home. I'd rather just do it myself and go home. Which you did. Yes, I made you stay there and that's what happened is you're fine, go home. Ironically, when we did get her home after this,

just through trial and error, the other way to stop her foot from tremoring, warm water. You put her feet in warm water, and all of a sudden, it levels right out and stops. Take it out, and it would start again. Back into warm water, it would stop, which is really, weird because the only thing heat would do is circulation, right? There are vessels dilate, right, or not dilate. They get bigger.

And what neural was looking for is some sort of a nervous issue, right, with setting it off and whatnot. And it's the opposite. It's cold that calms nerves, not heat. Heat aggravates and makes it worse. So now that I've said both things, I'm that confused because, well, actually, let's just move with the circulation. So we get home from that, learn how to control them by warm blankets, water, and your feet in water, and keeping you nice and warm.

But at this point, my, I don't have a word for them yet. My wobbly not being able to walk, that is a constant now. And that lasts just for three weeks. I couldn't walk on my own. So we got my grandma's old cane and my grandma's old walker, and that was the only way I could walk. Yeah, but we got you moving a little bit, which was all right. It was ugly. I thought you're going to fall most of the time, but you did it.

So anyway, we clearly, once we got back from this and no answers again, we called the out-of-country doctor, and filled him in on everything, sent the videos and whatnot, and he, pushed me hard to get more aggressive. And I agree. So we went on a, um, a blood thinner, uh, anticoagulant actually is what it is. And, um, four days after starting those meds, when we finally got them, because it takes a little bit to get your prescriptions, but when we started it four days after, I'd went to work already. McKenzie is still sleeping. And my wife texted me with a picture of her legs and they were blue-gray no color cold did the touch and this is in the morning after she'd been sleeping for the night sent me the picture and I said get her to the

emergency room fast that's a blood clot there's no color in the legs blood is where you get your color we have pictures of that as well your mom got you up and got you to the front door and by the time we got to the front door, the color was returning. So my sister's a nurse. I had, she hadn't left for work yet, so I had her run there. I was already an hour away from, so I couldn't get back in time. And my sister looked at her and it's good. But we cleared a blood clot through her legs. Another one of these COVID side effects, the vaccine side effects. Clots. You've heard the clot shot. Well, we got to watch it. So luckily, I guess I'll just fast forward past that, it has not happened again.

Thank goodness because that was scary. But it was also another indication of the doctor that was actually on our side, giving us diagnosis, giving us direction. He was right. Four days after starting the medication he wanted us to be on, she cleared a blood clot through her legs. So I bring that up because was it circulation? Is it nervous system?

Why was the leg twitching? I don't know, but it was pretty interesting that you start a blood thinner and you clear a clot within four days. I don't even know what questions they ask, to be honest. I'm just kind of like a little bit in awe of multiple things. The story itself, how both of you can smile going through this, you know, and I'm sure that, as you've pointed out multiple, multiple, multiple times, that was not always the case. but does the optimism come from finding somebody who will just address it and be like, this is what it is, and these are the things we have to do. We were in trouble without finding that other doctor, the out-country doctor.

Are we nervous to say who it is? Well, I didn't. The only reason I'm talking like that is completely intentional is it's an avenue for anyone who needs it that is in trouble. Here's the story and it's like we're in the same situation or similar. Yeah. I will talk to anyone. Sure.

Well, so then for the listener, assuming we've released this. Yeah. I'll put my numbers in the show notes and if you want to get a hold of Seth, you just text me. See, it's simply easy. Exactly. And Seth has given me the go ahead to pass his number along to anyone who texts. That way we can just streamline it and the way we go. Yeah, I'm comfortable with that.

I don't want this avenue blocked and I don't trust government at all. That's fair. I really don't. And this is important because this might have saved her. Like I can only do so much reading. We couldn't find a doctor that, yep, whatever, cared enough to spend some time and run some tests to actually rule things out. Because if you can't figure out what it is, figure out what it isn't. But there was so little of that that went on without him getting us on the right path.

So I guess you should probably say it's been since that period of time, what a month and a half? half. It's May now, so it's probably been a month and a half. And the improvement has continued. Like the leg doesn't do what it was doing then, right? No, like I haven't had a Twitch happen since that one Twitch and I can walk now, but we've learned that I can do one lap of our block and then my legs go weird or I try to participate in anything I can. So I've been doing discus at school just so I can do anything and I'm trying not to move my legs I just throw with my arm but I got cocky one day because my legs felt okay that day and I added a spin in there and then right after that my legs went down and I was wobbling couldn't walk and so I'm improving but it's

been how long did you two months of not being able to walk properly or play sports or even squat to work out. Yeah, none of that. But it's improvement. And I'll use the word stable. So we're optimistically positive that we're on the mend. Just don't know timeline. Did you have, and I can't remember if we talked about this at coffee,

did you have a time where you're at the North Battle for Grink as well in there where you, am I remembering this wrong, where you had an ambulance? Am I wrong on that? No, not at North Battleford. That is when that was the second last game you played, right? Where you only made one period and your vision started to go blurry. Yeah. And I did that 120 over 110 blood pressure, right?

Stage 2 hypertension. Color was terrible. It just didn't look good. Why did I think, but I'm just going to make this, making sure I'm going to just filter out the same. thought so if I remember it correct wrong you weren't at a North Battleford game why do I think that why did I I thought you were at a Stars game am I just completely talking wonky stars Saskatoon Stars oh

I totally thought it was the North Balford Street no it's the Saskatoon Stars so you're talking that's when it's you and your mom at the ring to yes luckily in Saskatoon close to the emergency room got you blizzard yes I that was going to bother me for that I I'm like, I thought there was anyways, the stars, the Saskatoon stars. Of course, I don't know my female hockey nearly enough, obviously. That's okay. How, I guess for an athlete who has, you know, by the looks of you,

been active all of her life to now be where she can walk around the block once. She's doing discus, but if she gets cocky, you know, to laugh it off, I'm like, good on you. Right? I don't know how angry I'd be. I'd probably be pretty pissed off myself. how frustrating has it been the last little bit, or are you optimistic because you're actually like, listen, we're starting to make some strides here.

I'm probably both. Like, I'm optimistic because walking around the block is probably the highlight of my day where being able to pick anything up because before I couldn't lift a thing of tied over my head to do laundry, like my legs would give out doing that. So I'm optimistic in the fact that I am getting better, and I can do things. Like I can drive on my own. But I'm also very frustrated because when I had my chest,

lungs, heart stuff going on, people did not believe me. And I had so many rumors made up about me. But then the second that everyone got to see me tumble and trip over my legs, then everyone was my best friend by my side. And they finally believed I was sick once they saw I was sick. I actually saw the relief in her face when her legs went and she couldn't walk because it wasn't a secret anymore, it was obvious I was watching one of our I was watching one of our playoff games

and I can sometimes feel when my legs are going to go weird and I knew they were so I told mom I'm going to the bathroom I think I'm fine my friend's going to come with me so we got up and mom told me that literally the whole rink just stared at me as I tried to walk on my own I think I...

That was in Saskatoon? No, this was in Notre Dame. Saskatoon, anywhere I went and my legs were weird, I had everyone staring. Because if that happened to someone else, I wouldn't know what to say either, so I don't judge them for just staring. But it kind of was a relief when I saw my classmates, my friends, my old teammates all see me like that because they finally believed after how many months of telling.

people, they'd ask, how's Kansi doing? They would say, oh, she's fine. She's at home again because she's getting more testing, but there's nothing wrong with her. But it's better now. I was glad that people finally saw how bad I was because they finally believed me. And even people at home, they didn't get to see it, but they've seen the video and they've heard about it. So even they're kind of laying back a bit with their calling. still, which is helpful, I guess. I appreciate you coming in and doing this. I will say this.

It takes a lot of courage, gumption, a couple of different words in there to come sit across and do something like this. Most people are afraid of the mic to begin with, but to talk about something like this is, well, I'm just honestly, I think, there's been a few different teenagers now that have come across my path and I just admire because it's like, holy crap, most adults won't come and talk about this stuff, right?

There's a lot of people who want to talk about it. So I admire you for coming in and doing this and being open to my thoughts and questions and then having your dad do it, Seth does, and, you know, it's interesting to see a dad-daughter duo come in here. But before we shut it off, is there anything else that you want to make sure that gets sick? Because, I mean, we have all the time in the world. So if there's other things you want to make sure people know bring up, please, I don't want to cut it off too soon. If you have a kid or a family member that's having weird health problems and testing is not finding it, take it seriously.

Don't wait. We probably lost three months at the beginning with the influence. response through her body, not jumping on it because we didn't recognize where it was going. Like, don't listen to the two weeks. If it doesn't happen in two weeks, it won't happen. Want to bet? We just lived it. It's been building for a very long time and we're still not through it.

So don't be passive. There are answers. You're not going to find them in Canada, but there are answers to find out there and money's useless compared to your family. So find your answers. I want to go back because I've thought of another thing that also happened. I don't know when it happened, actually. I noticed it started happening the star of second semester, which would be end of January.

I have some, I think it's called brain fog. I think that's what they call it. So I was a smart student. Like, things came really easy to me. And once second semester happened, all of a sudden I just found that I could not. do anything like you can't brag for yourself but I can she was on a roll at Notre Dame like going from her school to a new school and being pushed harder and still ends up on the honor roll yeah so a very astute student yeah like math is

one of my favorite subjects like I enjoy school but I feel like there's an inside joke here with it no all of a sudden I started struggling and like every subject and I wasn't sure why. And then once I kind of came home because of my legs, we started noticing stuff because I can't remember stuff well anymore. And dad says it's the brain fog. And like, I'll be writing a math test that should have taken me an hour to do normally, and it took me two hours and 45 minutes to complete it.

In fairness, it was your mum that pointed out the brain fog. I didn't piece that together at all. That was your mom. Even stuff like I was trying to do. Someone was asking, where are your teacher's names from Notre Dame? And I blanked. Like, I couldn't remember my own teacher's names that I've been with for how many months or they'll ask me, have you taken your pills today?

And I have to go check because I can't remember if I actually took my pills today or not. And then it kind of led to my speech. Like, it's not as noticeable because I have to think about it a lot, but I will run scenarios through my head all the time to think of words. Like before I speak, I have to think like three times because I lose words halfway through when I'm talking or I'll forget what I'm even saying while I'm talking sometimes. We've had plenty of those middle conversation and it's just done. That's probably besides the legs, that's been another one of the most frustrating things. Because with the chest stuff, I could play through it, not easily at all.

but like I can't do normal things anymore. Like just doing schoolwork is such a challenge or having a conversation with my dad is a challenge because I can't talk properly sometimes because my brain just isn't processing what I'm supposed to be saying where I can't remember to do certain things. But at the end of the day, as long as you're getting better, if you lose one semester of school, it doesn't matter.

It's irrelevant. True. Anything else? At this point, I'm just like, I'm in awe of you two at one point in another. I'm like, I just can't believe how much over the course of like an eight-month period has gone on. And, you know, I hope to the listener, you know, like I know that you're not a unique case because I know of some different athletes that I've heard about from even this community that they've had their own issues. And so I just, I don't know.

the words, McKenzie, for allowing to come in here and do this and everything else. I'll let the audience probably say a few different things, whether it's online or through the text line, and let them do the speaking. Either way, I just want to thank you for coming in and Seth for, you know, being here as well. Once again, a dad-daughter, I hope in years to come, I hope it's under, you know, of winning championships and different cool things of going to Olympics or, you know, I don't know, like, it's, it's been heavy topics in here for a long time and someday I hope that changes, but for the foreseeable future right now, it seems like these are going to be some conversations that need to be had and need to be heard.

Absolutely.