Grateful for his smile: Regina mother embraces son's new reality after traumatic brain bleed

Nichole Huck · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 26, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Beautiful Mess is simply a bid that mines the contented of parents successful Saskatchewan who person experienced hard circumstances.

In immoderate ways, Griffin Mounts is similar galore 13-year-old boys. He likes Pokemon and watching his favourite TV shows. He's starting to turn facial hair.

Unlike astir teens, Griffin lives successful Wascana Rehabilitation Centre and requires around-the-clock care. He uses a wheelchair and requires a feeding tube.

He lone communicates done smiles, but his parent sees much successful him than conscionable those facial expressions.

"We were told that helium wouldn't recognize us, and helium wouldn't beryllium capable to communicate, [but] helium does," Brooke Bakken said, remembering doctors' predictions for her lad 5 years ago.

"He has an quality to beryllium blessed with precise elemental things and helium truly does look genuinely happy, and I deliberation that brings maine peace."

Five years ago, Bakken's beingness arsenic a parent looked dramatically different. She was co-parenting with her ex-husband and shuttling eight-year-old Griffin betwixt day parties and hockey games. 

That each changed successful February 2020.

One morning, Griffin woke up complaining astir a headache, past collapsed. The doctors judge an artery successful his encephalon ruptured, perchance owed to an underlying wellness contented helium had since birth. It resulted successful a terrible encephalon bleed.

Griffin was rushed to infirmary successful Regina and had exigency surgery. Then helium was flown to Saskatoon Children's infirmary and enactment connected beingness support.

The pursuing months are a blur to Bakken.

Her days were spent astatine Griffin's bedside, with things changing time to day. She researched potential treatments, adjacent if they meant going retired of the country. She held retired anticipation to fig retired thing to bring backmost the lad she knew.

Then, a period into the ordeal, the satellite unopen down. Visitations were abruptly constricted to support radical harmless from COVID-19.

For the adjacent six weeks, Bakken was the lone visitant Griffin was allowed. She was not allowed to permission his room. 

"It was hard for maine for evident reasons, and it was hard for his different household due to the fact that they couldn't visit," she said. 

Griffin was yet moved to Regina, and Bakken and her ex were capable to instrumentality turns visiting their lad successful the hospital. At that aforesaid time, they were modifying their homes to beryllium capable to accommodate Griffin's wheelchair and caller carnal challenges.

The learning curve was steep. They had to learn how to provender him done a tube, present his meds, move him from furniture to chair and marque definite helium didn't get bedsores.

It was each hands connected deck. Griffin required astir the timepiece care. Bakken relied heavy connected her parents to assistance connected the weeks Griffin was with her.

Over the years, Griffin's lungs got worse. He'd abruptly request precocious levels of oxygen — much than they were allowed to person astatine their home. They were calling an ambulance aggregate times per week, and perpetually successful and retired of emergency.

Everyone was moving connected fumes. Something had to give.

A caregiver suggested they use to determination Griffin into Wascana Rehabilitation centre. Bakken said it was an casual decision.

"It conscionable wasn't doable anymore."

The families person worked to marque Griffin's country astatine Wascana Rehab consciousness similar home. It's filled with his Pokemon stuffies, creation made by his friends and household members, and books helium utilized to bask speechmaking earlier the injury, similar Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dogman. He is surrounded by unit that cognize and emotion him, and is transported to schoolhouse everyday. 

In the evening, his parents instrumentality turns visiting him.

Every clip the telephone rings — whether she's astatine enactment oregon it's the mediate of the nighttime — Bakken is braced to driblet everything and unreserved to the hospital. She knows vacations are important, but she doesn't privation to beryllium acold from location successful lawsuit thing happens.

Bakken described the past 5 years arsenic an adjustment.

"At archetypal you spell done what feels similar mourning. The nonaccomplishment of the mode your kid was and conscionable wanting them, like, trying to find thing that volition bring that back."

Now she has travel to deliberation of Griffin arsenic having lived 2 lives. She tin spot the archetypal Griffin successful videos of an excited toddler walking for the archetypal time, oregon drafting his ain homemade Pokemon cards and poking amusive astatine her attempts. 

Then there's Griffin now. They ticker shows, work and perceive to music. When the upwind is nice, they circuit astir Wascana Park. Bakken gauges Griffin's involvement and enjoyment by his smiles.

Bakken said her lad has taught her astir gratitude.

"If helium tin beryllium blessed with the small that helium has near of abilities, you tin usually effort and spot thing bully successful your day."

Bakken said she knows it's not realistic oregon adjacent steadfast to ne'er fto herself beryllium sad. But she's travel to a spot wherever clinging to the past oregon worrying astir the aboriginal conscionable doesn't service her.

Instead, she focuses connected enjoying each time she has with her son.

"He's conscionable a saccharine kid and I don't cognize what helium would person been similar if this didn't happen, but I besides take to judge this is his path," she said. "Whether this sounds cheesy oregon not, I deliberation that things hap the mode they're expected to. You larn from those situations and you possibly assistance different radical on the way." 

 Do you person parenting themes you'd similar to spot tackled? Do you cognize a genitor who has immoderate hard-earned contented to share? E-mail [email protected]

Read much stories from the Beautiful Mess series.