It was the best Christmas present the Carson’s could have asked for; not gifts under the tree, but their 12-year-old daughter home with a clean bill of health.
Two weeks ago Maggie Carson was in Vancouver for a gymnastics competition, set the return home to Yellowknife when she became disoriented and had trouble speaking.
She was rushed to hospital where they discovered she had a brain tumor.
Related: ‘Classic Yellowknife support’ after youth discovers tumor
After a five-hour surgery, 95 per cent of the tumor was removed, but Maggie was still stuck waiting to hear whether or not it was cancerous.
Her family feared she’d be spending Christmas in hospital, but then a holiday miracle: the tumor was benign.
Maggie’s father Rod Carson says it was the best gift they could have asked for.
“It’s the best Christmas present ever, it really is,” Carson said. “From there we had a little private celebration and started making plans to come home.”
Maggie and her family arrived home Thursday. Her father says she’s been doing ‘great’, still a little tired but back to her same old self.
“My wife and I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome,” he said.
“To have our baby back home, relatively back to the way she was before she left, it’s a good Christmas.”
‘Pay it forward’
A GoFundMe page was started by a friend of the Carson’s in support of Maggie and her family. Before it closed, in had raised $22,600 in donations from the community in just a week.
“We’re going to find a way to pay that forward,” Carson told Moose FM.
“There’s a lot of other families out there that are going to need it and we’ll be there to support the other families when the time comes.”
Related: ‘So broken down’: Mystery infection claims YK youth
