National Scotties a sweet reprieve for Silvernagle after her son’s year in intensive care
Robyn Silvernagle will be making her third appearance at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts next week in Kamloops, BC, just weeks after her team was put together.
The 35-year-old says she had curled in just five games in the fall before getting together with lead Kara Thevenot, second Sherry Just and third Kelly Schafer.
After just one practice ahead of the last chance qualifier, the foursome won their way to the provincial Scotties and ended up hoisting the trophy after an 8-4 win over Nancy Martin in the final.
“This one is sweet just with everything that myself and my husband had been through in this last year, not even knowing if I was going to get to curl at all,” Silvernagle said.
She says she and her husband Chad spent 304 days in the hospital—most of them in intensive care—after her son Kolt was born without his esophagus attached.
“They had to do surgery at 10-days-old to attach his esophagus and then it was dilations after that, and he ended up getting pneumonia quite a few times,” she said.
“Then he had open heart surgery in May and that was a pretty rough road to get out of that, and then he had a couple more surgeries after that.”
She says there’s still another surgery to come, but Kolt is now doing well.
“He's growing and progressing,” she said. “He's a strong little fighter.”
Silvernagle was able to sub on a few teams in the fall, and the decision to form another team happened quickly.
“We started talking more and more about it and who we wanted to play with and we just asked the right people and it all came together,” said Thevenot, who added there’s nobody else she’d want throwing skip stones.
“I was definitely a little bit of a driver behind it and made it happen I would say, it's just we had talked about it lots and then just put it into action and here we are today.”
Silvernagle says the experience has put curling and her life in perspective, and is looking forward to having her family in the crowd at the national championship.
“It’s been quite the year, like 2023 has to be better than 2022 was because that was a shaky year,” she said.
“It's been a journey and looking back at the times in the hospital and you're like, “Will my life ever be back to what we think of as normal” which is just getting to go play and have grandparents watch your child and those sorts of things. So it feels like a real blessing to be able to get to be where we are today, and get to go to another Scotties. We'll definitely cherish I think every moment of it.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cisco reveals security breach, warns of state-sponsored spy campaign
State-sponsored actors targeted security devices used by governments around the world, according to technology firm Cisco Systems, which said the network devices are coveted intrusion points by spies.
Britney Spears settles long-running legal dispute with estranged father, finally bringing ultimate end to conservatorship
Britney Spears has reached a settlement with her estranged father more than two years after the court-ordered termination of a conservatorship that had given him control of her life, their attorneys said.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
opinion RFK Jr.'s presidential candidacy and its potential threat to Biden and Trump
Although it's still unclear how much damage Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy can do to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump this election, Washington political columnist Eric Ham says what is clear is both sides recognize the potential threat.
Haida elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Opinion I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
It's 30 years since apartheid ended. South Africa's celebrations are set against growing discontent
South Africa marked 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of its democracy with a ceremony in the capital Saturday that included a 21-gun salute and the waving of the nation's multicolored flag.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.