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
Bodies recovered in Mexico likely 2 Australians, 1 American who went missing: officials
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
London Drugs begins 'gradual reopening' on 7th day after cyberattack
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.