Shannon Smith Quotations

Because of the privacy laws, we were not able to give the gifts to the children directly.

We just have to back up our pitcher. Our pitcher does the best she can so we try to back her up the best that we can out on the field. It's a team thing.

I think they're fun and cool to watch!

We're already planning for 2006. So much work goes into the event and while it's over fairly quickly, it's an important event for Canadian breeders to showcase their breeding stock and their youngsters. They are, after all, our future sport horse competitors.

We've had incredible support from sponsors and competitors alike, they come from as far away as Ottawa to participate. Every year the show gets bigger and better and this year was no exception. We had 81 entries this year. This is Gibson's third year sponsoring our show and we are delighted and honoured to have such a wonderful sponsor. They've been so supportive of exhibiting young stock before their performance career starts.

It was very important to me that they gave the gifts not only to the patients, but also to their siblings. When Zane was sick, our other children spent a lot of time there and it isn't always fun. I wanted to make sure that everyone could get a little gift and smile - if even for just a moment.

Although there are some predictable stages of grief that allow us some understanding of the process, it is equally important to remember that no two people grieve exactly the same way. Some teens who are experiencing significant loss will withdraw from friends and activities, some will appear to be doing fine for a while and then months later will start to exhibit some difficulties, and others will make uncharacteristic choices in their behavior, which is frequently an outlet for anger.