The following story is the 3rd top article published to Swift Current Online in 2023; keep coming back as we unveil the rest of the lineup over the next week.

After a grueling ten-year-long medical journey full of uncertainty, Bella Brave's recent homecoming stands as a Hallmark moment for the Thomson family. 

She returned to Swift Current yesterday with her mother Kyla after a four-month stay at SickKids Toronto, where she received a lifesaving bowel transplant this summer. 

While the duo has endured much longer trips away for medical procedures, Kyla said this homecoming feels different.  

“It's definitely the best yet,” she said. "We're coming home with such a feeling of relief. And it's so comforting to be here and get back to everything, friends and family and our hometown. It feels really good." 

The ten-year-old had her PICC line removed before leaving the hospital and has even been attending school for months. 

Multiple surgeries are still waiting in her future to remove her ileostomy and then colostomy, but these are small procedures in the grand scheme of what her life looks like post-transplant. 

“The world is literally her oyster now,” Kyla laughed. “We can go wherever her heart desires. There’s just a world of freedom now for her to go anywhere and do anything at any time.

"We are just absolutely thankful for everybody from Swift Current who has supported us from day one," she added. "It's been a decade now of Saskatchewan friends and family helping us along, and we are forever grateful."