‘She’s like bubbles in sparkling water’: B.C. woman spreads joy, gives back after enduring 14 brain surgeries

Adam talks to a young, silly singer from Tsawwassen whose bright personality got her and her mom through the darkest of times.

TSAWWASSEN, B.C. — Long before Taylin McGill started singing what she calls “The Chicken Song,” her mom Erin started worrying about her then-newborn’s health.

“I guess it’s just mother’s intuition,” Erin says. “I had a feeling she just wasn’t right.”

At just 10 days old, baby Taylin was diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening brain infection.

“It felt like a punch in the gut,” Erin says. “It was absolutely devastating.”

Taylin suffered traumatic brain damage, her first of countless seizures since, and spent the next three months of her life in BC Children’s Hospital.

“The prognosis was not good for Taylin,” Erin says.

While she was told her daughter wouldn’t be able to walk or talk, and would struggle with memory and fine motor skills, Erin decided to focus on the positive.

“We needed to reframe our focus on the things she could do,” Erin says. “Rather than the things she could not do.”

And it turned out what Taylin could do really well was spread joy.

“She’s like the bubbles in sparkling water,” Erin smiles.

Like when Taylin was heading into one of the 14 brain surgeries she’d endured by the time she turned seven and started singing her chicken song to the doctors and nurses.

“A paula kaola can’t you see,” Taylin laughs, while singing one of the gibberish lyrics. “A chickery chick is me!”

“(The medical team) stopped what they were doing. They just stood there with their hats and gloves on and started smiling,” Erin recalls the scene outside the operating room. “It was a moment of joy.”

And Taylin has been striving to inspire smiles ever since.

“I just want to give back in any way I can,” Erin smiles. “Because the hospital helped me so much.”

So, when she not making keychains that say, “never give up,” or crafting Christmas trees on canvas to raise money for the Children’s Hospital, Taylin is giving inspiring speeches about overcoming adversity.

“Life is short. Taylin has taught us that,” Erin says. “We need to live for every moment.”

Although Taylin still faces challenges, she can now do many of the things she was told she wouldn’t be able to do. She credits that—along with her family and health care—with three things.

“Never give up, seize every day, and have a song in your heart,” Taylin says before laughing that the song that’s currently in her heart is “The Chicken Song.”