This beautiful song (music by Janice Sheridan, guitar played by Blair
Cromwell) is now available for purchase (all proceeds go to FSMA Canada
to support SMA research.) The CD, after playing on Annapolis Valley
Radio, has already almost sold out of its first production run. Another production run
should be ready in time to ship before Christmas. To purchase the CD, please email Gail Hatchard at k.hatchard@ns.sympatico.ca.
The CD is $5 plus $3.10 postage in Canada.
'You have to have hope'; Grandmother pens lullaby for baby
facing huge fight to survive
GAIL HATCHARD never considered herself a songwriter. She'd written
a few poems here and there but nothing she ever planned on showing to
anyone.
All that changed after she wrote the words to Katie's Lullaby.
The song was penned this past spring after her baby granddaughter
Katie was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a wasting disease
that claims the lives of almost every child it afflicts.
Katie is the daughter of Tim and Kim Hatchard. They're both from
this small Annapolis County community but now live in Halifax.
Tim is a physics researcher at Dalhousie University, and Kim cares
for their three children. Katie and a twin brother were born last Nov.
30.
While her brother has remained healthy, Katie was diagnosed with
SMA. The disease claims 50 per cent of its victims in the first seven
months and 90 per cent before two years.
"Please God, she'll make it to her first birthday," Gail Hatchard
said in a recent interview at her home, near Annapolis Royal.
She holds up a photo of Katie, a sweet baby girl, dressed in pink,
with bright blue eyes and a ready smile. But the disease prevents her
from sitting upright or walking or crawling.
She has difficulty breathing and wears a breathing mask at night.
She undergoes physiotherapy four times a day and needs a machine to
help her cough up mucous to prevent pneumonia.
Last week, she was sent to hospital in Halifax, where she remained
Monday.
While Mrs. Hatchard knows her granddaughter's prognosis is poor,
she won't give up hope.
"You have to have hope, and we do. . . . Miracles do happen," she
said.
She wrote Katie's Lullaby one night when the family was visiting
her home. Not content to leave it in her top drawer, she took it to
her friend, Janice Sheridan, a musician and singer.
Ms. Sheridan put the words to music, and the song was recorded at
the Riverview Digital Recording Studio in Bear River, with studio
owner Blair Cromwell on guitar.
Five hundred CDs have been made and will be put on sale at $5 each,
possibly later this week, to help raise money for SMA research. A
benefit concert is also in the works.
"It's just a drop in the bucket of the millions of dollars that
will be needed to find a cure," Mrs. Hatchard said, "but it's our
little part."
She said the CD is a "bright spot in a very sad thing," and she's
thankful to all the people who have contributed money, time and work
to bring the project to fruition.
"It has meant a tremendous lot to all of us."
Darren Bray is president of Families of SMA Canada, a non-profit
group that works with families and is devoted to finding a cure for
the disease.
He said SMA may be considered rare by many people, but it is the
No. 1 genetic killer of children under two.
"Too many children like Katie fight for survival every day."
They are "all very intelligent, happy children robbed of the
physical strength needed to carry on the life of a normal child," he
said.
Mr. Bray said initiatives like the Katie's Lullaby CD help raise
awareness and important funds for research.
"We hope many will purchase the CD and share the joy that Gail has
experienced while dedicating this lullaby to Katie," Mr. Bray said.
"Every dollar raised will bring us one step closer to finding a
cure . . . and saving the lives of all those affected with the
disease."
The CDs will be sold at local retail outlets.
