Dartmouth boy named IWK’s 2024 Children’s Miracle Network Champion

This year’s Children’s Miracle Network Champion has been revealed for the IWK Children’s Hospital in Halifax.

Canon Beazley of Dartmouth, N.S., was named the latest champion during an announcement in Dartmouth, N.S., on Thursday.

The Children's Miracle Network Champion Child is a program that brings children together who represent hospital foundations across Canada and the U.S.

The IWK Foundation says Canon will represent children throughout the year who receive specialized treatment and care at the hospital.

“We are thrilled to name Canon as this year’s IWK Children’s Miracle Network Champion, representing the IWK locally, nationally and internationally. He is resilient, intelligent and a true inspiration to us all,” said the manager of community and corporate giving, Melanie Matheson, in news release from the foundation.

As a champion child, Canon will also share his personal IWK story to support fundraising campaigns and events in the Maritimes.

He became an IWK patient after he was diagnosed with Stage 1 Wilms Tumour in 2021.

“If it weren’t for the IWK I wouldn’t be standing here today,” he said during Thursday’s announcement.

“They had to take out my kidney, as well as giving 22 weeks of chemotherapy, but the support from the IWK was so great and amazing and they made what felt like, what could of felt like, the end of the world feel great.”

After treatment, Canon began having panic attacks and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The IWK Foundation says he doing better thanks to regular therapy sessions, medication and the support from his family and IWK care teams.

Canon is known in his Dartmouth community for this successful “House of Doom” Halloween fundraiser for the children’s hospital.

“(It) has raised $47,000 since 2020 and it’s opened up so many opportunities to help fundraise for the IWK,” he says. “I’m so glad that I get to take part in that, because I know that I’m helping more kids that are going through the same things that I am, that will go through the same things that I have, or even worse.”

“This kind of stuff suits him very well,” says Canon’s father, Dan Beazley. “And we’ve got to watch him grow and develop throughout all of the opportunities he’s had because of his experience with the IWK.”

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