Tom Hanks in Forest Gump, famously said, “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” For me, the holiday season this year was feeling rushed, stressed, busy, and let’s not forget the last minute shopping. That was until a single unexpected event changed everything.

I’d like to share a story about the best Christmas present I could have asked for, and in fact, have ever received. It was simply to have my dad come home to his family healthy.  I received a call from my mom that dad had a heart attack at the cottage while he was collecting firewood on Friday, December 9^th in Muskoka.

At the time, I was at our annual Manawa Christmas party, celebrating another successful year with the entire team.  It was a joy reminiscing about a great year, joking and reconnecting with colleagues and friends.

Early that day, my dad started to experience severe chest pains, headache and numbness in his arms while gathering wood. After getting back to the cottage, my mom called Dr. Lester Affoo, a GP and family friend, who has a nearby cottage. Lester practices in Alliston and asked my parents to drive to Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket immediately. As they drove, Lester called to check on them every 10 minutes.

When they arrived, Lester was at the emergency entrance waiting. My dad was admitted and monitored by the emergency department staff. While in the emergency department my dad’s symptoms had improved and the ECG looked normal. Lester went to see Dr. Steve Minor, a professional colleague, who is a Cardiac Interventionist at Southlake. Dr. Minor saw my dad after his current patient and performed an angiogram and angioplasty.  Dr. Minor said my dad’s arteries were severely blocked and was surprised he made it out of the woods. My dad was transferred to the Cardiovascular Care Ward and on Saturday was met by Dr. Charles Peniston, the surgeon. Dr. Peniston told my dad he would need triple bypass surgery and scheduled it for Sunday morning.

Our family stayed with my dad as long we could until visiting hours ended Saturday evening.  We said our goodbyes. My dad told us how proud he was of each of us and how much he loved us. My dad had one simple wish saying, “I just want to wake up after surgery and see you all again”. Sunday morning was one of the longest days in my life, waiting for any news of dad’s surgery. When someone’s life is in the hands of a few healthcare trusted professionals down the hall, time feels ever so precious. We were heartened when the surgeon came out and informed us the surgery had gone well. My dad would be kept asleep in the Cardiovascular ICU, until his vitals stabilized. We stayed with my dad while he was sleeping all day Sunday. On Monday, when my dad awoke, he was ecstatic to see us, to see the hospital staff, to see everyone. His wish had come true.

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When we first started Manawa Networks, customer service was important but it wasn’t the most important thing. We prided ourselves on a variety of criteria. As the company has grown, developing our people to deliver outstanding service and build long-term relationships with our customers has become our core focus. I was reminded of this with a story that happened a few weeks ago.

I received a phone call from an employee, who works for one of our larger customers.  She was on maternity leave and became quite agitated because her backup drive crashed along with all her digital photos of her newborn son. I gave her instructions and walked her through the steps about how to recover her data. I also gave her, the name of one of our partners to call, if her efforts didn’t resolve the issue.

I felt that helping an employee recover her files was just part of the job. The email I received from her the next morning was unexpected and reminded me why we started Manawa. It read as follows:

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