Edmonton man camps in the cold to keep newborns warm

Peter Burgess was cradling hisailingthree-year-old daughter, Elan, in his arms at the Stollery Children's Hospital when she went into cardiac arrest on July 25, 2007.

She'd only been sick for about two hours, and despite extensive testing in a short time frame, doctors didn't know what with.

"There's no diagnosis, there's no reason," Burgess said. "She was a perfectly healthy young girl and six hours later, we were told by the doctors, 'we're no longer treating Elan, we're treating your family.'"

We're no longer treating Elan, we're treating your family.- Peter Burgess

Blood was no longer flowing to the little girl's brain, forcing her parents to grapple with another traumatizing tragedy: explaining to their seven-year-old son only two days later that his sister was going to die.

"At the end, when it was time to take Elan off life support, we brought Ben in to say his last goodbye," Burgess said. "What he said to me afterward was, 'Dad, I was so sad my legs didn't work.' And I felt his legs buckle. I felt he just let go."

Through it all, the Stollery Children's Hospital was there for the family.

• MEDirobot to comfort patients inStolleryChildren's Hospital

Time to give back

Burgess said the doctors and nurses cared for his daughter like she was their own. They helped him find the words to explain what was happening to his son.

Now, he wants to give back.

The Stollery is in need of four warming beds for premature babies. Each one costs $8,000. Burgess wants to raise as much of that money as possible.

The 51-year-old is camping out in the cold at Rainbow Valley Campground over the next week, drawing attention to and accepting donations toward the cause.

On Saturday, Burgess' breath caught in the air as he explained the reason he would be sleeping in a snowsuit in a tent with the expectation the temperature would plummet toward 40 C.

"It's been tough, but now we're in a position where we can do some good with this," he said.

"Those babies are fighting every second of their lives. It's not a big deal for me to be out here."

roberta.bell@cbc.ca

@roberta__bell