Published on September 18, 2025
When Christina and Chad Herbers (Biological Sciences ’95) describe their daughter, they remember her love of music, the outdoors and travel. She often loved to wear bright pink or purple outfits with matching earrings – complementary to her custom pink wheelchair embroidered with butterflies.
But most of all they remember the positive impact that Jaina had on everyone around her.
Jaina’s story began before she was born. In January 2006, Chad and Christina were in a car accident. Christina, then halfway through pregnancy, suffered a ruptured spleen. Jaina was deprived of oxygen for several minutes, leading to a brainstem injury.
Born four weeks early, Jaina spent the first three-and-a-half months of her life in the neonatal intensive care and the Intermediate Care Environment units at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. The Herbers were told Jaina would never walk, talk or eat on her own. She’d require around-the-clock care, including a ventilator and feeding tube.
Among Jaina’s care team were respiratory therapists, who the Herbers came to appreciate for the quality of care they provided to their daughter during her time in the hospital. When it came time to bring Jaina home at nearly four months old, they looked to NAIT to help find the caregivers they needed.
“We couldn't have lived our lives without them”
While Chad, a registered nurse, could care for Jaina’s needs, they still required additional skilled support. And with both working, the couple needed extra help on weekdays and overnight. It was important to them that Jaina would be cared for at home, rather than at a care facility.
They contacted NAIT's Respiratory Therapy program to post an ad at NAIT to hire students to care for Jaina as part of a paid practical experience. The students gained hands-on experience maintaining Jaina’s respirators and feeding tubes, and learned to bathe, dress and care for her.
Over the next 12 years, 52 students cared for Jaina. But, they weren’t just caregivers; they became a part of the family.
They took Jaina and her little sister Addison on outings and ensured she had a good quality of life, says Chad. “She was outside and went to activities all the time. She had a very busy social life. And we wanted that for her.”
For Jaina’s 10th birthday, the family and a student caregiver drove from Edmonton to Vancouver and Victoria. They took their customized accessible van, packed it with ventilators and equipment to ensure that Jaina would have access to the same care on the road as she would at home. The trip became a treasured memory – one of many made possible, in part, by students.
“We couldn't have lived our lives without them,” Chad says.
Honouring Jaina’s legacy
After Jaina passed away at the age of 12, the Herbers’ home felt profoundly different: it was too quiet. The constant sound from ventilators was gone, and there were no longer student caregivers coming and going.
Now nearly seven years later, Chad and Christina have continued to honour their daughter by sharing her story – something they did throughout Jaina’s life to give her a voice. At age three, Jaina’s story was not only on the front cover of Invisible No More, a book about Canadians with disabilities, but was also prominently featured at a national inclusion conference.
Inclusion remains as important as ever to the Herbers. Christina and Chad continue to advocate for family-centred care in Alberta, volunteering at the Stollery and sharing their perspective as parents. Through their support, they hope to evolve compassionate care for patients, particularly children with disabilities and their families.
For the Herbers, their advocacy is also about ensuring that Jaina’s story continues, and that she continues to have a positive impact on those around her. In 2020, they established a bursary at NAIT for Respiratory Therapy students in honour of her legacy. Since then, 10 second-year students received the Jaina Herbers Bursary.
“We saw how challenging it was for caregivers to work and save money for school,” says Christina.
“Our greatest hope is that they carry Jaina's legacy forward in their lives and how they care for others as practising respiratory therapists.”
Many of Jaina’s former caregivers still speak about the deep impact she had on their careers. Gaea Zaborski (Respiratory Therapy ’10) and Sarah Bieganek (Respiratory Therapy ’09) both went on to work in pediatric care at the Stollery after they graduated.
“Working with Jaina made me more compassionate, more empathetic, especially working with families that have children with chronic illnesses or conditions,” says Gaea. She’s worked at the Stollery for the past 15 years.
Sarah, now the hospital’s executive director of critical care and respiratory therapy, remembers Jaina's calming presence.
“Jaina [taught me] to slow down, to be grateful for what you have,” she says. “I remember the bedtime snuggles and the walks in the sunshine. All of those experiences that remind you of what's really important.”
To honour those cherished walks in the sunshine, several caregivers planted a memorial tree in St. Albert’s river valley. And, as they gathered, Christina, who wears a butterfly necklace in memory of her daughter and her pink wheelchair, felt her presence.
“Shortly after Jaina’s tree was planted, two butterflies came and flew around me. I just felt like it was her.”
Jaina’s legacy: Bursaries support respiratory therapy students
The Herbers family honours daughter and the positive impact she had on others
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