Isabelle Shing looks like your average two year old, she loves to play, she’s curious about things she’s never seen before and she doesn’t really care about the wellbeing of her family’s furniture.

But it was only last Christmas when she fought for her life. 

“They were pretty much preparing us that she might not survive,” said Audrey Wong, Izzy’s mother.

Izzy was 13 months old when she caught what appeared to be a flu but her mother Audrey Wong knew something was wrong. She took Izzy to BC Children’s hospital but the many healthcare workers who saw her didn’t express the same concerns.

“I feel like I was dismissed, and she mentioned I think you have a very tired baby, she has the flu, I think she should continue to sleep. Neither of these physicians actually put their hands on her to see if she was plausible,” said Wong.

“For hours at a time her heart was at 200-220 at a time,” said Justin Shing, Izzy’s father.

After hours of being increasingly unresponsive she was ordered an emergency CT scan, which revealed significant swelling in her brain. 

On Christmas, an MRI showed Izzy had a rare neurological condition: Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy, that injured her brain permanently.

Izzy’s parents were told to prepare for the worst that she might not make it to see the new year.

But she did make it to the new year slowly overcoming obstacles doctors didn’t know she could. 

“She’s in this unique situation where her brain injury happened to her when she was young so we’re hoping to use that to our advantage in this two year window for her to reach the level of her peers. We’re going to do whatever we can,” said Shing.

And although her medication and physio is helping her slowly learn how to do things again like point and crawl. Izzy’s parents say they’ll always wonder “what if” – What if they went sooner? or worse, What if they went later?

“Hey parents, listen to me now- speak up for these kids who can’t speak up for themselves. You guys are their words,” said Shing.

“It doesn’t matter if they need to kick and scream and yell, a mothers instinct or fathers instinct is usually onto something,” added Wong.

The family has also set up this GoFundMe to support Izzy’s journey.

Because although she looks like your average two year old, who can’t help but get distracted by new things, she still has a long road ahead of her.