It was the photograph that alerted the world to the tragedy that was taking place in our own backyards.
A desperately sick five year old girl laid on a stretcher with her teddy bear, after being affected by tainted water in Walkerton.
Ten years later, a now healthy 15 year old Tamara Smith remembers her trip to the hospital in May of 2000.
She remembers the helicopter attendant giving her a teddy bear, and feeling really sick and scared because she didn’t know what was going on.
Tamara says she doesn’t blame anyone for the tragedy that killed seven people and sickened 25-hundred others.
And for some families, the struggles continue.
Tracey Hammell, whose son Kody was a desperately ill toddler, worries that people will forget that some people are still living with the consequences.
Now 12, Kody has damaged kidneys and diabetes from the E. coli poisoning.
Hammell says she’s worried that people are sick of hearing her story, but she also says the government can’t give up and needs to be there for those residents who still need it.
This weekend marks a decade since the tragedy.