Laura and Todd Crooks have experienced personal devastation from losing a loved one whose mental health issues weren’t properly addressed. Their son Chad took his own life eight months after he was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, on Jan. 21, 2016. The professional help the gifted 21-year-old college student required wasn’t readily available when he needed it […]
Mast cells. Few know that mast cells are the first responders of the immune system. Even fewer study their role in group B streptococcus, a widespread bacterial infection that can cause preterm birth, stillbirth or dangerous sepsis in infants. Many women who have given birth will likely remember the group B strep screening in their […]
Seattle Children’s is getting set to launch a program that will redefine how we care for children with “high-risk” leukemia – or leukemia that doesn’t respond well to standard treatments and/or has relapsed after therapy. Unfortunately, less than 40% of children with high-risk leukemia will live for more than four years after they’re diagnosed. Our […]
Kids with type 1 diabetes are used to getting a lot of questions, from “What does that tube on your pump go to?” to “What happens when you don’t feel good?” The natural curiosity of their peers often serves as a reminder of the condition they must constantly stay on top of. Recently, the tables […]
As the youngest in her family, Isabella Wallis is always following in the footsteps of her older siblings. While it has its perks in helping her learn the ropes, getting to be the first in her family at anything is few and far between. That was until the 9-year-old from Olympia, Washington, became the first […]
To pass the nearly 180 days she was a patient in Seattle Children’s Cancer Unit with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), London Bowater took orders from her doctors, nurses and other patients and families for friendship bracelets that she would braid from her hospital bed. While her handicraft would help fill the time between treatments, it did […]
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. But What does ‘awareness’ really mean? To become aware? To obtain new knowledge? To gain a new perspective? To become informed? To become concerned or even empathetic to an unfamiliar situation? The concept of awareness can take on many faces, and its perception can change depending on the person […]
In just three days, 9-year-old Wyatt Zender and his family will see his artwork come to life on the Chicagoland Speedway. Wyatt, a cancer patient at Seattle Children’s, was the lucky winner of a coloring contest presented by Great Clips to design the paint scheme for Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 Great Clips Strong Against Cancer […]
Erin McCloskey, 11, has been a regular at Seattle Children’s her entire life. First diagnosed with a rare heart defect, a genetic specialist at Seattle Children’s later discovered she had fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). FOP is a complex condition that turns tissue, ligaments and tendons into bone that is outside the typical skeletal structure. Eventually, […]
Liesel Von Imhof, 18, came to Seattle Children’s from her home in Anchorage after learning the reason for her migraines: a ping-pong ball–sized tumor in the middle of her brain. In honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, here she shares her journey of diligently working to achieve her goals despite recovering from brain tumor surgery […]
