The 42nd CHEO Telethon on CTV Ottawa raised $755,240 after a two-week campaign of raising money and awareness about Ottawa’s children’s hospital. The money will go to support the patients, staff and research at CHEO. “This has been a great day. A great way to finish off two great weeks,” said CHEO Foundation CEO Steve Read. “Everything that happens at CHEO comes from support from the community. Thank you to everybody.” Saturday’s telethon featured six remarkable families who shared their journey through medical challenges and highlight the impact of the care at CHEO. Viewers also met frontline doctors and received a behind-the-scenes look at the hospital’s innovations. Last year’s CHEO Telethon on CTV Ottawa raised $720,600 Money raised during the telethon supports research, life-saving treatment and state-of-the-art medical equipment. During the telethon, viewers met Bryce, The Porter Triplets, Jayden, Tala, Cece and Rowan. CHEO president and CEO Dr. Vera Etches is taking part in her first telethon this year since taking the helm of the organization in March. “It is truly amazing how important CHEO is to families in our region and how much families support the work that happens there,” Etches told CTV’s Patricia Boal. Etches says donations have gone to help everything from basic medical equipment to long-term projects, including a new 1000+ spot parking garage that opened last month. “Thanks to generous donours, it is easier to find parking because we’ve got a new parkade,” she said. Many familiar faces from CTV Ottawa appeared on the 2025 CHEO Telethon, lead by CTV News at 6 anchor Patricia Boal, CTV News at 5 host Stefan Keyes, CTV Weather & Community Anchor Jackie Perez, and CTV Morning Live’s Rosey Edeh. Kids Come First In April, CHEO and the Ontario government broke ground on the new Integrated Treatment Centre at the CHEO grounds. The 200,000 sq. ft. Kids Come First facility will allow the hospital to provide integrated and coordinated care under one roof. “That’s the anchor project in what’s going to be an eight-to-10-year redevelopment of our campus so that we can better serve the kids,” Read said on CTV Morning Live. Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice The Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice launched a new expanded grief support service for young grievers last fall. The program provides compassionate support for children and youth grieving the death of a parent, grandparent, friend or anyone who is significant in their lives. “Now we’re able to say….yes, please come through our doors and be welcomed and greeted and be able to meet other children that have also experienced a loss and know that you’re not alone,” Sarah Allan-Wiseman, a palliative care social worker, told CTV Morning Live this week. “Grief is so isolating and so for these kids and young people to say, ‘I’m not alone, people care. I can move with this.” The Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice’s “Grief Circles” and “Connections” programs provide supportive spaces for families, caregivers and grandparents. Allan-Wiseman says it’s important to recognize that “grief looks really unique in young people.” “Just make sure that you’re making that space for them to have safe people to talk to, and also letting them be a kid.”
