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Time to shine: Allen boy rides in Children's Medical Center parade
Photo courtesy of Children's Medical Center of Dallas -- Former Children's Medical Center of Dallas patient Ed Brady waves to the crowd at the Children's Medical Center annual holiday parade, which drew more than 300,000 to downtown Dallas on Dec. 3.
By Conner Hammett, chammett@acnpapers.com
Nine-year-old Allen resident Ed Brady has led quite a remarkable life.
Born with Truncus Arteriosus, a rare congenital heart disease in which only one blood vessel comes out of the right and left ventricles of the heart, Ed spent the first seven days of his life at Children's Medical Center Dallas and the next seven at home, where his parents waited for a donor valve to become available.
"I was stressed just bringing a newborn home, and to find out I'm going to bring a newborn home who I need to know how to put a feeding tube in and [give] all these medicines and watch for signs of heart failure was a little overwhelming," said Ed's mother, Pat.
"We were really blessed about how his surgery turned out," Pat said.
On Dec. 3, Ed's journey brought him to Children's Medical Center's 24th annual Holiday Parade, where he served as a grand marshal. The nationally syndicated event, which was co-presented by Capital One Bank and Pizza Hut, draws more than 350,000 people to downtown Dallas every year.
"It was just phenomenal," Pat said. "It was almost like Miracle on 34th Street at the beginning with all the hustle and bustle."
One may assume Ed was nervous sitting on a float with thousands along the parade route waving back at him and millions more watching at home -- not to mention getting his picture taken with Texas Ranger Ian Kinsler -- but Ed said the experience wasn't nerve-wracking at all.
Was it fun?
"Yes with a capitol 'Y,'" Ed said. "It was pretty cool."
This year, the parade also featured a special performance by Grammy-nominated American Idol champion Jordin Sparks. Sparks sang "The Cure," a song from her latest album, "Battlefield," which is the theme song for Children's Medical Center's original dramatic documentary series, "Children's Med Dallas," which aired on WFAA Channel 8 over the summer.
The parade's grand marshals are extraordinary in their own right for overcoming some seemingly overwhelming odds, and the parade has always been the hospital's way of celebrating their heroism with throughout the entire Dallas area community, said Betsy MacKay, vice president of public affairs for Children's Medical Center Dallas.
"Their desire to live and fight for survival and their ability to jump right back into childhood is really inspiring. They are representatives of the real gift of winning the battle," MacKay said. "To see them so happy and be able to participate in something so fun that lights up their faces, I think that's really the magic of childhood."
For Pat, the parade's magic moment came when Ed's float neared the end of the parade route, where the parents of the parade's five grand marshals had been seated to take photos and cheer on their children in the home stretch.
"Ed was pretty serious ... about making eye contact and waving, but when [Ed's handler] pointed out that we were there, he just got this huge grin on his face that just melted my heart," she said. "It was just very touching."
Do any particular memories of the parade stick out for Ed?
"It would be way too long for me to list all of them," he said.
Staff writer Kelley Chambers contributed to this report.
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