Kylie Bradbury followed a journey driven by her passion throughout her life, switching from teaching abroad to soaring the skies as a flight attendant. However, her desire to make a positive impact ultimately led her to supporting children with serious medical conditions.
Growing up in Red Deer as an only child, Bradbury has always been drawn to being around children. With role models like her aunt and grandmother, she learned the importance of kindness and empathy from a young age. Her love for children went hand in hand with a passion for helping others. She regularly volunteered at hospitals and community organizations.
“I loved this discovery of being in the volunteer world, that was something that I fell in love with when I started at the Rockyview Hospital,” says Bradbury. “I knew I wanted to be more connected with the kids.”
Leigh-Ann Duke, Bradbury’s close friend, says she has a strong ethical compass.
“I often tease her about how considerate, caring and thoughtful she is because occasionally it is to her own detriment. But she cannot be any other way. Regardless of what she gets back from others, she will always be giving,” says Duke.
Influenced by her parents’ careers in education, Bradbury was inspired to find her place in the classroom and impact students. She combined her love of both travelling the world and helping others by teaching English abroad.
“After university, I knew I wanted to live abroad because of that experience of being in a different culture,” Bradbury says.
Bradbury enjoyed empowering others through education by teaching English to young adults in Taiwan and France.
“It was a really great experience overall, though it was hard and challenging. I knew I wanted to test out teaching to see if it was where I wanted to land,” Bradbury says.
However, as Bradbury gained more insight into the challenges in the teaching profession, she began to feel worn out by the job’s constantly demanding nature, searching for other avenues.
“With teaching, I was getting to the point where I was getting very tired and needed something different, I needed a change.” Bradbury says
Inspired by a colleague who secured a flight attendant position, Bradbury decided to apply to WestJet and was hired.
Driven by a thirst for new adventures, Bradbury traded land for sky by becoming a flight attendant, using this opportunity to travel and explore more of Canada.
“Whenever I had a layover, if I had enough time, I would make sure I’d go out and go explore,” says Bradbury.
While teaching abroad and working as a flight attendant, Duke saw Bradbury’s interest in diverse cultures and languages grow.
“Through her flight attendant experience, she met a variety of people from different walks of life and cultures, plus got to do some travelling of her own,” says Duke. “All of this fed her natural curiosity about people and the world.”
Bradbury remained committed to the desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Feeling unfulfilled in her role as a flight attendant, she yearned for a deeper sense of purpose.
“It wasn’t the best for my health. The irregular hours, it turned out it wasn’t going to be sustainable for me. I wanted something different. I wasn’t feeling super challenged in the role,” said Bradbury.
It was not until she stumbled upon volunteering opportunities at hospitals and The Rotary Flames House that her true purpose started to become clear.
“I loved this discovery of being in the volunteer world and that there could be a career connected to volunteering was really exciting,” says Bradbury. “That was something that I fell in love with when I started at the Rockyview hospital.”
Soon, a new position opened for a volunteer coordinator role at Kids Cancer Care, and Bradbury immediately got involved with the organization.
“I knew I wanted to be more connected with the kids,” says Bradbury. “The idea of supporting kids who were dealing with medical concerns made me feel passionate about wanting to be part of that.”
Now at Kids Cancer Care, Bradbury gets to do what she loves most – supporting children with cancer and their families, striving to make every moment count for those in need.
“We want the kids who come to Kids Cancer Care to have that feeling of just being kids, and to not be worried about what else is going on,” says Bradbury.
Bradbury channels her lifelong love for kids, hoping to make a difference in their lives.
Bradbury’s coworker, Rachel Mclnnes, an Education Program Coordinator at Kids Cancer Care, describes how Bradbury brings a lot of contagious energy to work.
“She is often the person who is bringing our team up to a new level of energy and she brings that to the volunteers.”
Despite her work as a volunteer coordinator, Bradbury finds ways to help children by incorporating ways in which volunteers can better connect with kids through a bead exercise.
When kids get diagnosed with cancer, hospitals start the Beads of Courage. For every treatment, poke or blood test, children get a bead that becomes a powerful visual representation of everything they have gone through while fighting cancer.
Similarly, there’s a bead exercise for volunteers as well.
“For every volunteer, for all the hours they put in for a kid’s Cancer Care event, volunteers get a bead, then they create a string of beads that shows their volunteer journey,” says Bradbury.
As Bradbury continues her journey with Kids Cancer Care, she is driven forward by her love of nature, which is key in shaping her approach to supporting children fighting cancer and their families. She works hard through camp and outdoor activities to embrace nature’s healing effects, bringing happiness and joy.
“She can inspire people to tap into their creativity and encourage people to enjoy the natural beauty we have here in Calgary,” says Duke. “She’s a good role model and leads by example.”
For Bradbury, the most important thing is to support and be there for these children. As her contributions to our community continue to grow, she aims to improve our world, planting one act of kindness at a time while emphasizing the value of working together.
“It always comes back to we can’t do what we do without our volunteers because our volunteers provide the support and the capacity to run things,” Bradbury says.