Montreal’s Shriners Hospital for Children turns 100 – CTV

October 13, 2025

Healing is everything at the Shriners Hospital for Children – a place Natalie Cinman has known since birth.

“I had fractures throughout my body that had healed and refractured. And I had jaundice, and I was basically not thriving,” she says.

Cinman was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta. The condition is more commonly known as brittle bone disease.

“They didn’t know what the outcome would be for me, but they said ‘if she does survive a couple days, there is a hospital,’” Cinman tells CTV.

As the Shriners Hospital marks a century of education, research and children’s care in Montreal, Cinman reflects on her health journey.

She recalls undergoing many treatments and surgeries, but she was lucky to be among the first to receive a new treatment at age 12: she was infused with medication to help improve her bone density.

“I became more independent, stronger, able to weight bear. Walking wasn’t such a physical therapy anymore, but more of just the day to day life,” Cinman says.

Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/montreals-shriners-hospital-for-children-turns-100/