It might be hard to catch the Easter Bunny in action, but children and families in a Peterborough neighbourhood will meet a close friend of the holiday figure when he once again delivers chocolate treats straight to their doors on Easter Sunday afternoon (April 20).
Despite living with osteoporosis that causes pain when he walks, 72-year-old East City resident John Mitchell has been donning a vintage Easter Bunny costume every year for the past 10 year to deliver chocolate — and joy — to local families.
“As a senior, it’s a wonderful way to be engaged in the community,” says Mitchell.
Given his desire to make children smile, it comes as no surprise Mitchell spent his lifetime working with children. After beginning his career as a daycare teacher, he became an inspector for childcare programs in Toronto. At the time of his retirement, he was the director of children’s services for Durham Region, which he describes as his “dream job.”
“It was exactly where I had hoped my career would go and I loved every minute of it,” he says. “I always enjoyed working with children on the frontline and then also enjoy being in a position to implement programs and develop policy and see it implemented across the region. I found that very fulfilling.”
Throughout his life, Mitchell has lived with osteoporosis, although he did not get a diagnosis until he was in his 40s. Given that women are more likely to suffer from the bone-weakening disease, men were not as routinely screened for osteoporosis when Mitchell was growing up.
He recalls first breaking a leg at four years old by tripping on his walk to school and, three years later, he broke his femur to the point where it was “poking through the skin.”
“If I gave someone a hug and it was too tight, I would crack a rib,” he says. “Not realizing then that I’d cracked a rib — it was just painful.”
He finally received his osteoporosis diagnosis in 1997 when he was also diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system. Mitchell had extreme lower back pain and paralysis in his legs and, while in the hospital, he underwent a bone density scan.
That’s when he was told he had osteoporosis, which he describes as having been “a word out of the blue.” The scan also found that he had suffered 27 different fractures.
“Fortunately or unfortunately, I have an extremely high tolerance of pain, so I think that’s why a lot of it went undiagnosed,” he says. “I think part of why I have such a high tolerance of pain is that it had been there for so long, so it was just a way of life.”
In the early 2000s, Mitchell had a number of vertebroplasties (where bone cement is injected into a fractured vertebra to stabilize it and reduce pain) and, in the past six years, he has undergone laminectomies (where pressure on the spinal cord or nerves is relieved by removing a portion of the vertebra called the lamina). He has also had rods and pins put in several vertebrae in his upper back and neck, and had a hip replacement surgery last October and another earlier this year.
Prior to his diagnosis, Mitchell was five foot 10 but now he stands at five foot four.
“It’s funny because, when you don’t know something, it’s almost easier to cope with,” he says. “I just always thought of myself as a non-athletic kid, but found out late in life that there was a reason for it.”
“It’s only later in life that I’ve really concentrated on exercise, and I go to the YMCA five nights a week. Who knew exercise was good for you? It really does help if you concentrate, and if you have good muscle tone around those fragile bones it’s a lot easier to deal with.”
Today, as he recovers from his latest hip replacement surgery, Mitchell takes daily walks in the neighbourhood. When he does the same on Easter Sunday, he’ll be sporting a vintage Easter Bunny costume made in the early 1960s which he purchased from a thrift store and has worn to various Easter gatherings.
“I have no idea what possessed me to buy it, but I did,” he says. “I used to walk around the neighbourhood and say hello to people and cars would honk and I quite enjoyed it.”
While he has lived in East City for about 15 years, Mitchell and his partner Doug Ramsay only moved to their Burnham Street home a little over five years ago. That’s when he got to know the young families and children around the neighbourhood and began going door to door on Easter. He primarily does the block around James Street, Mark Street, and Sophia Street to deliver Easter treats to children and seniors, delivering an average of about 100 chocolate eggs.
“There are kids that wait for me and know I’m coming,” he says. “Parents will text ahead to other parents to say I’m coming up the street which is quite exciting. I really enjoy it, and the parents have been amazing.”
The neighbourhood got so used to the “friend” of the Easter Bunny — “because the Easter Bunny doesn’t have a white beard,” Mitchell says — making annual visits that in 2021, when he was sick and had to postpone the walk for a few weeks, the neighbourhood came out to bring him some treats instead.
“I had families and kids deliver handmade get-well cards and chicken soup to my door,” he recalls. “Now I still get drawings that the kids made at Easter time, and it’s just been wonderful.”
During his Easter Sunday visits, Mitchell leaves home at around noon and spends three to four hours in the neighbourhood, never rushing his conversations with parents and kids.
“I enjoy going for walks because people will say hello to me by name, and it’s been a wonderful experience for me and a way to give back in a small way,” he says. “Children were my career, and I benefited from that career. It’s a way to keep my fingers — or paw of the rabbit’s foot — in the pie.”
Mitchell does not limit his neighbourly interactions to Easter, as he has turned the Easter Bunny outfit into a Halloween costume when giving out candy to trick-or-treaters, and frequently goes out on Christmas walks to give treats to pets in the neighbourhood.
“It’s quite something to be able to go out for a walk and a five-year-old or six-year-old is willing to stand there and chat for a bit,” he says. “You’re not the Easter Bunny at that point — you’re just an old guy using a walker to get around — but these kids are engaged and they’re talking to you.”
Given his disability, Mitchell’s pain is exacerbated by frequently walking up porch steps on Easter — but he doesn’t let that stop him.
“I usually come home and have a nap, but I’m also quite invigorated after,” he says. “But I take my time, and I sit regularly on my walker, and it works just fine.”
When asked why it’s worth the pain, Mitchell acknowledges it’s not just about bringing joy to the families and children, as it brings him happiness as well.
“It really makes me feel part of my neighbourhood and community.”
