{"id":2594,"date":"2024-09-04T13:15:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T19:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/liver.ca\/event\/stroller-spotlight-butterfly-dancing-woman\/"},"modified":"2025-01-22T11:03:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T18:03:30","slug":"poussette-projecteur-papillon-femme-danseuse","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/liver.ca\/fr\/event\/stroller-spotlight-butterfly-dancing-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Pleins feux sur les poussettes : Butterfly Dancing Woman"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"class_list":["post-2594","event","type-event","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"start_date":null,"end_date":null,"location":"","blocks":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"

Trigger warning: references to physical abuse, premature birth<\/em><\/p>

\"Portrait<\/p>

Celina Thibault has been a volunteer with the Calgary Chapter of the Canadian Liver Foundation for more than 15 years when her journey with liver health began.<\/p>

In 2004, Celina was diagnosed with Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC), but the trek to her diagnosis was a challenging one.<\/p>

During the year prior, Celina was feeling tired and nauseated \u2013 she went to see her doctor thinking she might be pregnant. After a pregnancy test came back negative, her doctor told her to consider consuming less alcohol, and sent her home. <\/p>

As a Cree woman, Celina was offended and frustrated by the doctor\u2019s assumptions that she consumed a lot of alcohol. Celina barely drank \u2013 a glass of wine every other week at most, and she knew that her infrequent casual drinks were not likely to be causing her nausea and exhaustion. Her experience turned her off of doctors, leaving Celina to push through her ailments without help.<\/p>

A year later, Celina\u2019s health continued to decline and she noticed strange new spots around her eyes (which turned out to be cholesterol deposits). She decided to look for a new doctor. The first question she was asked was about her alcohol consumption. After underlining that she did not consume much alcohol, the doctor sent her for endless tests: scans for cancer, blood tests for hepatitis and HIV. After all her tests, Celina was finally sent to see a liver specialist.<\/p>

\"CelinaAfter more tests, Celina was diagnosed with Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC) a chronic liver disease where the immune system attacks the liver causing slow, progressive damage to the bile ducts. Although Celina was initially told her PBC wasn\u2019t too severe, within four years, she was in stage four liver failure and placed on the transplant list.<\/p>

But Celina\u2019s wait for a liver was long \u2013 and felt even longer as she navigated a challenging life.<\/p>

Celina was deep into an abusive relationship, and while on the transplant list, she became pregnant \u2013 which is very rare for progressive PBC patients. Celina\u2019s pregnancy was extremely challenging on both her and the baby. Her daughter was born early, at 4lbs 4oz, but healthy.<\/p>

During her C-section, Celina asked the doctor for a tubal ligation (tubes tied), however due to extreme bleeding, the procedure wasn\u2019t possible. Following her labour, the doctor told Celina that her organs were failing and her health was poor, and another pregnancy was extremely unlikely \u2013 almost impossible.<\/p>

\"CelinaWhen her daughter was only two months old, Celina underwent plasmapheresis exchange, a process in which the liquid part of the blood, or plasma, is separated from the blood cells. She underwent plasmapheresis procedures for three months, until she found out that she was, in fact, pregnant again.<\/p>

The doctors warned that continuing the pregnancy was dangerous, for both her and the baby, but Celina was adamant that she did not want to end her pregnancy.<\/p>

There Celina was: a newborn on the way, advanced liver disease, an abusive partner, and pregnant.<\/p>

Celina\u2019s son was born early, weighing in at just 2 pounds at birth. He was a fighter though, and he was healthy \u2013 Celina, however, was not. Celina waited another two and half years for her liver. <\/p>

One day, Celina was attacked by her partner. In 2012, she decided that this was the last time: she cut ties with him and her social network connected to him. That brave decision left her alone, incredibly ill, with two young children, and absolutely no support.<\/p>

In the months that followed, Celina was admitted to the hospital indefinitely. Her mom, the only person available to support her, moved to Celina\u2019s home to care for her kids. It was during this time that Celina\u2019s doctor had a meeting with Celina, her kids and step kids, and her mother: Celina needed a liver transplant, or she would die. Celina had to make hard decisions and start planning a life for her kids without her. <\/p>

But Celina\u2019s story doesn\u2019t end here. This is just the beginning.<\/p>

\"Celina<\/p>

On July 27, 2012, Celina got her liver transplant. July 27 is her new birthday. July 27 is her second chance at life.<\/p>

Celina\u2019s new chance at life led her to reconnect with her Indigenous roots and community. She started doing sweats, attending pow wows and drumming. These experiences, and reconnecting with her community and their traditions and practices, has been extremely healing, giving her a new lease and focus on life. She is even hoping to learn her Cree language.<\/p>

Celina\u2019s disease was the anchor that dragged her through the most challenging time of her life, but in the end, it made her stronger and braver, and has connected her to her community \u2013 her family.<\/p>

\u201cI came here to learn my lessons and apply them in my next life,\u201d said Celina.<\/p>

Celina started volunteering with the Canadian Liver Foundation before she even had her transplant. She was one of their first volunteers: as soon as she found out that her illness was rooted in her liver, she wanted to raise awareness.<\/p>

\u201cI had been judged for drinking every time I was sick and went to seek help from a doctor. It was such a horrible stereotype and it made me angry,\u201d said Celina. \u201cI wanted to educate people about PBC and break the stigma around liver disease.\u201d<\/p>

\"Photo<\/p>

Celina has been active in the Stroll for Liver for years, and this year her fundraising campaign is called \u201cButterfly Dancing Woman,\u201d the Indian name given to her by her community elder during a sweat.<\/p>

What her elder didn\u2019t know was that only days before the sweat ceremony, Celina went on a hike alone, and mistakenly walked into a butterfly nest. Suddenly, there were hundreds of butterflies flying around her. She desperately wanted to capture the moment, but couldn\u2019t get a clear photo of the quickly fluttering butterflies. But just as quickly as she stepped into beautiful chaos, one butterfly paused and waited for Celina to take her photo.<\/p>

Celina\u2019s PBC has recently come back quite aggressively. She learned that in Indigenous women, it\u2019s common for PBC to come back, and when it does, strongly. <\/p>

And this is why she Strolls \u2013 she wants to raise awareness and funds for research. She wants to support the work being done to study and hopefully one day, cure liver diseases like PBC.<\/p>

\"Celina\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful to see everyone coming together for a common cause,\u201d said Celina about the Stroll. \u201cWe all want to live. We all want to see each other win.\u201d<\/p>

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