Ottawa Day Fundraising Campaign
In support of Our New Hospital - The Ottawa Hospital
Ottawa Day Fundraising Campaign
Imagine a patient room at the new Ottawa Hospital campus bearing the name Ottawa Day!
A lasting symbol of a community that chose to care for one another.
As part of Ottawa Day, we are honoured to launch the Ottawa Day Fundraising Campaign in support of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.Rooted in this year's theme, HOME — Celebrating the Heart of Our City, the campaign invites Ottawa residents to come together around a simple but powerful idea: that the strength of a community is measured by how we care for one another.By raising $100,000, a beautiful patient room at the new hospital campus will be named in honour of Ottawa Day — creating a lasting legacy that will welcome and support patients and families for generations to come.Together, we will celebrate what makes Ottawa extraordinary while investing in the health, hope, and future of our community.Home is where we belong. Home is where we care. Home is Ottawa.
*Our story is only one of many. Throughout this campaign, we look forward to sharing stories from across our community that celebrate the care, compassion, and humanity that make Ottawa feel like home.
Our Story.
When I was pregnant with the triplets, I often thought about how fortunate I was to live in a city, and in a country, where healthcare was accessible and where people cared deeply for one another.
As someone who had survived conflict, genocide, displacement, and periods of living with the bare minimum as a child, I often found myself reflecting on how different our story might have been had this happened twenty years earlier. There were moments when I truly believed that neither I nor my babies would have survived.
Instead, we were surrounded by extraordinary care.
More than 21 members of The Ottawa Hospital team brought together their knowledge, expertise, compassion, and hearts to support our family. On September 3, 2013, three beautiful baby girls entered the world within five minutes of one another.
Ten days later, on September 13, 2013, Naylah passed away.My world broke apart.
I could not understand how to take the next breath because the pain of losing a child is beyond words. Yet I needed to keep breathing because two beautiful, gentle, innocent babies still needed their mama.And yet, something extraordinary happened during that unbearable night. The Ottawa Hospital fought with us and for Naylah every minute of every moment. Doctors, nurses, and staff grieved alongside us. When people gathered for Naylah's funeral, you would have thought this tiny baby had lived a lifetime instead of only ten days.For the first time in my life, loss did not feel lonely.
That night, Ottawa truly became home. Though I grieved deeply, I carried no anger and no regret because I knew we had been surrounded by humanity in its purest form.To this day, The Ottawa Hospital will forever remain Naylah's home.That experience changed everything in me. It reminded me of something I had learned surviving conflict and displacement: beneath every title, every skin colour, every faith, every political belief, every culture, and every background, we are first and foremost human beings trying to love, survive, belong, and create home for one another.
That is what Ottawa Day has always meant to represent. A reminder that for one day, we choose to see each other simply as human beings. Not through division, status, ideology, or difference, but through our shared humanity.A city where every culture, every story, every generation, and every background becomes part of one larger heartbeat.One City. One People. One Shared Responsibility to Care for One Another.
I would like to believe that the love and care we experienced here also gave us the courage to keep growing our family. Today, our family is complete: Aliyah, Naylah in heaven, Leylah, and our youngest sunshine, Samiyah.And for that, Ottawa will always be home.
Join the Campaign
While our story is deeply personal, it is only one of thousands that unfold within the walls of The Ottawa Hospital every year.
We have been privileged to witness the joy of new life entering the world, remarkable recoveries that once seemed impossible, and meaningful final moments surrounded by dignity, compassion, and love. These stories belong to families across our city. They are the stories of Ottawa.
They remind us that a community is measured not only by what it builds, but by how it cares for its people.
That is the spirit of Ottawa Day.
Today, we invite you to become part of that story.
Because together, we are more than a city.
We are a community. We are home.