Our stories

Cancer care closer to home for CHEO patients and families

Families of kids with cancer will get faster and more convenient access to essential bloodwork closer to home thanks to a partnership of CHEO and the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association (EORLA). 

As of Sept. 15, 2025, children and youth receiving cancer treatment can visit walk-in EORLA labs throughout eastern Ontario for bloodwork, instead of travelling to CHEO for an appointment. There will be designated spaces at the labs for oncology patients, and immunocompromised children will be prioritized.

This will...

Read more

Kassy’s journey and the changing face of obesity care

When Kassy was a toddler, her mother Nicole Cummins noticed something different. 

“She was always hungry,” Cummins recalled. “Food was the only thing that soothed her. I used to think it was my fault.”

For years, doctors told Nicole that Kassy would “grow into her size.” But the weight gain continued, along with chronic pain, learning difficulties, and a growing sense of isolation.

It wasn’t until Kassy was 13 that she was referred to CHEO’s Centre for Healthy Active Living (CHAL), a clinic that takes a...

Read more

How CHEO’s INR program saved a teen’s eyesight

Camryn’s migraines were getting more painful and persistent. Then there was a constant whooshing sound in her ear. 

The 16-year-old has dealt with chronic migraines in the back of her head and upper neck for years, but this time the situation became critical. 

A series of visits to local emergency rooms and clinics in Belleville and Kingston quickly escalated into a medical mystery—one that would ultimately be solved thanks to the expertise and innovation of CHEO’s Interventional Neuroradiology (INR) team and a

Read more

CHEO community nurse helps Jacob avoid hospital stay

When Gabrielle Simboli brought her newborn son Jacob home from the hospital, she knew their medical journey was just beginning. 

Jacob was born prematurely with multiple heart defects, lung disease, and feeding complications. He faced a daunting road ahead. 

At just three months old, he would undergo open-heart surgery to repair multiple ventricular septal defects (VSDs) and an atrial septal defect (ASD). But before that, he had to survive — and thrive — at home.

Living in Bourget, Ont., about a 40-minute...

Read more

The power of a family’s contribution to research

Tamy Bell is learning how to live with grief. 

Her son, Griffin, died in March 2024 at the age of six from Neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system. It's also the second most common childhood cancer to leukemia.

Bell has tried to take her painful experience and use it to help others. One way, she says, is getting involved in childhood cancer research.

“I get to tell our story and talk about him. I get to keep his legacy alive,” said Bell.

Bell is part of the CHEO Research Institute’s Research Family Leader...

Read more