The grand opening of the new Jim Pattison Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan was a particularly meaningful day for one local family.

article continues below

The Sernick family was among the invited guests for the occasion. Payton Sernick was the hospital foundation's Champion Child for 2018 thanks to the nearly $40,000 that she and her brother Beckham raised through the Cancer Sucks Project, and for the determination and positive attitude she showed during two battles with cancer.

Payton and Beckham, along with their mother Andrea and father Cheyenne, were in Saskatoon on Thursday for the grand opening celebrations. Payton participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony and delivered a speech to the hundreds of people in attendance. The family enjoyed a lunch and a private tour of the facility.

“This is a gorgeous facility. It’s really quite outstanding. They’ve done a lot of research and a lot of thought went into things, in terms of children’s opinions,” Andrea said.

After the day's activities, Payton was raving about the facility, including its rooms, its outdoor playground, movie theatre and a feature the hospital calls The Northern Lights.

"You can control the lights in your room, so you can have whatever colour you want,” said Payton.

After touring the facility, Payton believes their efforts in fundraising for the hospital were worthwhile.

"It's going to be really good, because there's going to be so many opportunities for kids."

Andrea was thouroughly impressed with the day.

"It was really heartwarming to see everything come together," said Andrea.

The hospital is scheduled to open to the public Sept. 29.

Next week's edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.