Support Elliott Rodrigue

On August 9th at about 5pm, five year old Elliott Rodrigue was returning home after spending a wonderful summer day visiting his Pappy and Nana at their cottage with his twin brother, Oliver, his two year old sister Abby and his dad, Andrew, when the unthinkable happened.  A car driving in the opposite direction was speeding too fast to stop when it encountered traffic and swerved into oncoming traffic hitting Elliott's van head on and changing the course of their lives.

Elliott was sitting in the passenger side of the vehicle. He was unresponsive at the scene of this horrific crash and when the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Andrew was told he should prepare for the worst and say his goodbye to his beautiful, spirited son.

The accident was so devastating it was instantly reported on many social media outlets. You can google highway 50 Gatineau crash on the date for reports on the crash from the crash scene. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/highway-50-gatineau-serious-crash-1.5242561?fbclid=IwAR3n2AQbfTdBVpSr_zhY8NjhcizpdWBTiLtOsPjIaGs1MWrC4gRNfzwl4zg 

When Elliott's mother Christine, who was at work that day, arrived at the hospital, Andrew had to break the heart wrenching news to her. How does a mother say goodbye to a child? No mother should ever have to experience what Christine had to face.

However, Elliott is a fighter and he was not done with his time on this earth. He fought with all of his five year old spirit and within 24 hours in critical condition in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, he beat the odds and the doctors declared that he would likely live.  

With his parents at his side, every day Elliott has made progress. It feels incredibly slow for his loved ones but progress is measured in tiny increments such as the ability to breathe with only some assistance, opening his eyes on occasion, squeezing his parent's hands at the sound of their voices...

And with this progress, we all cry with joy and we are so grateful, but it's long from over for Elliott and the Rodrigue family. The fact is, they don't yet know why Elliott is only semi-conscious; why he hasn't moved much;  why he hasn't spoken. He still has many injuries that need to heal, fractures, lacerations, nerve damage, issues with a lung and of course, his brain trauma. Until he is able to communicate everyone waits.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Elliott Rodrigue needs you to be a part of his village.  On the optimistic side, Elliott will require months to heal, to rehabilitate and to hopefully return to being that sweet and energetic boy whose life was suspended at 5pm on August 9th. 

We, friends of Christine and Andrew, and fellow mothers of five year olds who cherish Elliott like a brother, know that Christine and Andrew will have many financial pressures over these coming months and we are hoping there is something we can do to help. Christine and Andrew will not be able to return to work for an undetermined amount of time as they lay witness to Elliott's pains and progress at his hospital bed.  And we all know, life is expensive.  There are mortgage payments, bills, daycare and trying to sustain as much of a normal life as possible for their other two children.  In addition, their car obviously needs to be replaced.  

So please help us raise funds so that Elliott's parents can focus on his care and surrounding their other two children with love and a sense of security instead of stress about making ends meet.  And, hopefully we can raise enough so that when that glorious day comes when Elliott can leave the hospital, his first car ride is in the safest possible vehicle.  

We know that times are tough all around but a little truly does go a long way. If we all contribute what we can; share this campaign; encourage others, we know that together, we can do it. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts just for reading this. Please consider what you can contribute to support sweet little Elliott.

Thank you.
Mijin & Jen