A middle-schooler who survived leukemia and a college student managing thyroid cancer traveled to Washington, D.C., to talk to members of Congress about the importance of pediatric healthcare that accounts for the whole child, and why federal support is essential.
When Leah Tomaszewski was 8 years old, climbing stairs and riding bikes started to become a struggle. She was getting bloody noses that would not stop, and at school she was falling asleep at her desk. Her parents, Jessica and Jeremy, recognized that something was not right and took her to her pediatrician at Nemours Children’s Health. After a few tests, her pediatrician recommended they head to the emergency room.
That night, the Tomaszewski family drove to Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware.
“I definitely remember not feeling myself,” Leah said. “I remember thinking something’s wrong.”
Her intuition was correct. Within days, she was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She was in third grade.
Two years later and nearly a thousand miles away in Lakeland, Florida, 17-year-old Sunny Iskra was sitting at a coffee shop during her senior year of high school. Her mom, Liz, reached across the table and felt a lump on Sunny’s neck. She took Sunny to the doctor, who referred her to Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida.
“I had no symptoms besides this lump,” said Sunny, whose mind had been focused on her college plans. “I had no idea there was even something there.” The diagnosis was two forms of thyroid cancer.
Leah and Sunny met for the first time this June, united by a common mission. Alongside their families, physicians, and the Nemours Children’s Health National Office, they travelled to Washington, D.C. for the annual Children’s Hospital Association’s Family Advocacy Day. Together with families from across the country, they urged members of Congress to support policies that help children stay healthy and discussed how their care experience and Nemours Children’s encompassed more than just world class clinical care. Nemours also helped Leah and Sunny maintain their sense of self and their childhood throughout treatment.
Caring for the Whole Child
Leah’s Story
When Leah’s family received the diagnosis, her mom Jessica Tomaszewski, MD, a Nemours physician herself, knew exactly what B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia meant. That knowledge made it no less terrifying. What followed was not just exceptional pediatric clinical care, but also the support of a team that held the whole family steady, treating Leah as not just a patient, but as a child with a future to protect.
In the years that followed, her care team expanded to include pediatric subspecialists and physical therapists who worked with Leah through round after round of treatment. Art and music therapists at Nemours helped her navigate stress and anxiety during treatment, and therapy dogs made rounds in the hallways to help uplift her spirits. A social work team worked with Leah’s school to speak directly with Leah’s classmates to help them understand what was happening — because when a third grader disappears from the classroom, other kids notice.
“Being at Nemours was special because of everything beyond the treatments,” Jeremy said. “The child life support, the puppies sitting on her legs, the art and music therapy, the physical therapy afterward — all of those caring, human touches are what really made the difference in her care.”
“Leah’s Nemours care team became like part of our family during that time,” Jessica added.
Today, Leah is 13 years old and two years cancer-free. She plays viola, sings in a choir, and competes in volleyball, softball, and tennis. She carries something most kids her age don’t: the experience of surviving cancer and emerging stronger.
“I hope that all people are fortunate enough to have as good of care as I had,” Leah said.
Sunny’s Story
As Sunny prepared for her first surgery to treat thyroid cancer, her family hoped to see her healthy, thriving, and able to return to the activities she loved. Within weeks she was back on her horse, preparing to graduate from high school.
As she prepared for college, Sunny’s Nemours oncology team built a care plan that could travel with her — coordinating with labs near her college, monitoring results remotely, and staying in close contact with her family. When new nodules appeared, and a second surgery became necessary during Sunny’s spring break freshman year, her Nemours care team was ready. The team moved quickly to treat her and provided her with the support she needed to get back in class within 10 days.
“They didn’t just save her life,” Liz said, “They helped preserve the life she dreamed of living.”
Sunny’s care team actively supported her through her academic life, coordinating with her college to secure medical leave when necessary. To minimize her risk of illness in shared campus housing, the team also successfully petitioned the school to get her into a private dorm room. When Sunny transferred to a new school in Virginia, putting even more distance between herself and her care team, Nemours didn’t flinch. They figured out how to meet her needs in the new environment.
“It was like a support system that we had known for a very long time,” Liz said. “They treated Sunny like she was their own child.”
Sunny’s Nemours care team knows that young people like her are not just another case to manage. They are young people with dreams worth protecting. The result? Sunny became the only horseback rider from her college to qualify for the Intercollegiate Dressage Association National Equestrian Finals in St. Louis, placing 8th in the nation. She maintained a 4.0 GPA in her freshman year and continues to ride her mule, Elvis, every chance she gets.
“I don’t feel like just another patient,” said Sunny, “I feel like they really know who I am and what’s important to me.”
Just this May, after all the surgeries and trips back and forth to Nemours for doctor’s visits that became part of life, her care team shared the news the family had been waiting for. Sunny was cancer free.
The Case for Excellence For Every Child
Leah and Sunny’s experiences at Nemours represent what’s possible when children’s hospitals are built around the whole child — not just their diagnosis. Pediatric care is not a scaled-down version of adult medicine. Highly specialized pediatric clinical care, in addition to services provided by child life specialists, mental health counselors, art and music therapists, social workers, and others, is necessary in a care delivery model that centers the child.
While in Washington, D.C., Leah, Sunny, and their families met with members of Congress to advocate on behalf of children everywhere. Their requests to Congress were straightforward: invest in pediatric cancer research to save and improve the lives of children, ensure Medicaid coverage is available for genomic sequencing so more children can receive timely diagnoses and effective treatments, and protect Medicaid funding that allows children’s hospitals to deliver this level of specialized, holistic care to every family, regardless of income or circumstance.
What the Tomaszewski and Iskra families brought to Capitol Hill was the same thing they carried into Nemours, a belief that their children’s futures were worth fighting for, and a clear argument that every child in America deserves the same.
It’s not just medicine,” Liz said. “It’s the whole child. They are not just there for diagnosis and treatment; they are there to learn how to live with their illness and thrive.”
