Mercy was diagnosed with a giant omphalocele and pulmonary hypertension, received exceptional care from the medical team at Nemours Children’s Hospital, made her parents feel comfortable and provided attention from every department that cared for them.
Aaron, an 11-year-old boy with Bruck Syndrome, a type of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, underwent a major leg surgery and completed a three-month rehabilitation process.
After Troy was born, he was struggling to breathe. His mother Holli alerted the labor and delivery nurses, and they responded by checking his pulse, noticing that it was abnormal. Holli’s life was turned upside down when she was told that Troy had to be transferred out of state from Cape May, NJ to Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware to get the care that he would need. He was born with an interrupted aortic arch, a rare congenital heart defect that happens when the aorta doesn’t form completely. At just 6 days old, and due to his small size, Troy had a procedure to place bands around his pulmonary arteries and a stent the ductus arteriosus, to control the excessive amount of blood going to his lungs and to provide circulation to the lower body, performed by pediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr. Christian Pizarro. Then, at 6 months old, Dr. […]
Kaii was diagnosed with a serious congenital heart defect while still in the womb. With the help of experts at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Delaware, Kaii is healthy and meeting his developmental milestones
For children who are navigating serious medical concerns, staying on top of schoolwork can be challenging. That’s why the Hospital School Program at Nemours Children’s Hospital, FL, is dedicated to promoting educational success for children in our care. Our hospital-based teacher provides individualized instruction and school liaison services to support patients’ educational needs during hospitalization and upon return to school. The Hospital School Program is enhanced by our teacher internship program, called PedsAcademy®, for students enrolled at the University of Central Florida (UCF). PedsAcademy, developed in partnership between Nemours Children’s Health and UCF’s School of Teacher Education, is designed to better prepare future educators for teaching children with chronic and complex medical needs. Teacher interns from UCF provide individualized instruction to patients (PK-12) while receiving specialized training about how to support students affected by chronic health conditions. The PedsAcademy program enables Nemours to serve an increased number of patients, including their siblings, […]
Emily Baez remembers being in the delivery room when she noticed that something was different about her newborn daughter’s ear. “You count toes, you count fingers, but you don’t think for a second to check any other body part… especially an ear,” she says. Microtia is a rare birth defect in which the external ear is not completely developed. It affects about one in every 5,000-7,000 babies born annually. “When she was born, I didn’t know anything about it, I had never heard of microtia, so I started with social media first,” she says. This is when Emily became involved in The Ear Community online, searching hashtags and connecting with other affected families. “It actually helped make my grieving process a lot better.” After struggling to identify a health care provider that accepted their insurance, Emily found Nemours Children’s and instantly knew she was in the right place to […]
En mayo de 2022, Sebastián llego triste de la escuela. Estaba yo preocupada por él. Pensé que tal vez alguien era un bully, pero me aseguró que estaba inusualmente cansado. Al día siguiente era lo mismo, y tenía fiebre, así que lo llevé al médico que le diagnosticó una infección de estómago y le recetó antibióticos. Mejoró, pero no pasó mucho tiempo antes de que regresaran los mismos síntomas. Fuimos a otro médico que dijo que era lo mismo y nos recetó aún más antibióticos. Me pregunté cómo podría ser una infección del estómago si no tenía síntomas gastrointestinales, pero seguí lo que dijo el médico. Pero luego se agregó la respiración rápida a sus síntomas y supe que algo más estaba pasando, así que esta vez lo llevé al hospital. La respiración era tan rápida que me asustó. Pensaron que era bronquiolitis y prescribieron un tratamiento con nebulizador. Cuando […]
To read this in Spanish, click here! One day in May of 2022, Sebastian came home sad after school, causing me to worry about his unusual behavior as he is a very happy child. I asked Sebastian if something was wrong and if he was being bullied at school. He assured me he was just unusually exhausted. The following day, Sebastian was in the same down mood, but had a fever this time. I took Sebastian quickly to our local doctor, where he was diagnosed with a stomach bug and prescribed antibiotics. He eventually felt better, but not much time passed before the same symptoms returned. We went to another doctor who gave him the same diagnosis and prescribed more antibiotics. I wondered how it could be a stomach bug if he had no GI symptoms, but I followed the doctor’s advice. Rapid breathing was later added to Sebastian’s symptoms, […]
Nemours joined the Children’s Hospital Association and children’s hospitals from across the country to advocate on Capitol Hill for continued federal support for the CHGME program.
On May 30th, 2021, Chloe was having a typical night playing with her toys. She was smiling and giggling like always, and suddenly she stopped her energetic pacing between toys and randomly fell to the floor. She became limp and stopped breathing. Her lips and feet turned purple right before she became conscious again. No one knew why this happened because she’d never experienced anything like it before. An ambulance arrived, and Chloe was taken to Nemours, where she was diagnosed with epilepsy following a second episode that occurred in the hospital. Despite a quick diagnosis, there was still a long road ahead to gain seizure control. Chloe’s days went from cheerful playing and adventures to constant seizures, which made her feel sick and exhausted. She was unmotivated to do anything. Her toys were barely touched, and she couldn’t sleep through the night without multiple seizures. Eating food became a […]
Nemours’ Advance Delivery Program is designed for healthy moms-to-be whose babies will need complex care from the moment they’re born.
Contributed by Adira’s mom Ashley. The first inkling that something wasn’t right came at my first ultrasound. My baby’s femur was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was supposed to be straight. A subsequent ultrasound showed fractures in her skull and irregular shaped ribs. I was referred to a large prenatal referral center for an amniocentesis that confirmed a diagnosis of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). Consultations with the prenatal group suggested that this form of OI was very severe and incompatible with life. I was devastated and searched the internet to find help. Miraculously, I connected with a mother who had been in a similar situation. She referred me to the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Program at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware. We met the entire OI team the same day and geneticist, Dr. Michael Bober told us, “I promise you that we will do everything we can for your baby.” Additional […]
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