Eight years ago, Dr. Jeff Avansino, a surgeon at Seattle Children’s, and his wife, Dr. Amy Criniti, welcomed their third child – a boy named Luke. For the first few months of Luke’s life, he developed as expected. At about 6 months old, he started having spells of irritability. Avansino and Criniti, both physicians, thought […]
You’ve probably seen it before: something falls, a loud noise ensues, and a cat with an arched back and poofy tail sprints away. Unfortunately for 7-month-old Spencer Nicholson, when he loudly pulled a bin off a pantry shelf, the family cat was spooked right in his direction. Spencer fell on the floor and the cat, […]
In February, Madison Fairchild, 7, waited patiently with her family in a pre-op exam room at Seattle Children’s Hospital. As they waited for Madison to be taken into surgery she asked one question: “Are they going to take all the bad things out?” The simple answer was yes, thanks to a new procedure pioneered at […]
Yajaira Bedolla was 11 months old when her parents learned she was deaf. Living in Uruapan, Mexico, Bedolla’s parents searched their town for resources to help with the unknowns of raising a deaf child. The limited resources they found focused on teaching deaf children just to speak, rather than also learn sign language. They expanded […]
A hospital can be a scary place, especially for a mother or father of a sick child. Worrying about the cost of care can add a whole new layer of fear. For many families—even if they have insurance—medical bills can be financially devastating. When the postman finally delivers the bill, opening the letter can often […]
When Gailon Wixson Pursley came to Seattle Children’s, she was in so much pain she couldn’t walk. At 19 years old, Gailon was diagnosed with sarcoma, an aggressive cancerous tumor in her hip flexor muscle. Gailon’s treatment plan included surgery to remove the large tumor, radiation and chemotherapy, along with a long list of medications […]
What does a pregnant woman in Yakima have to teach a researcher at St. Louis University? How can a Seattle woman’s healthy, full-term pregnancy impact future pregnancies in Europe or Africa? The answers are closer than you might think. Over the past seven years, the team at the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS) – an […]
When you hear the term, “kidney stones,” you probably wouldn’t think a blue-eyed, blond-haired 2-year-old is someone who suffers from the painful condition. After all, kidney stones are most common in adults age 40 and older. Yet over the past decade, prevalence of kidney stones in kids has increased, says Dr. Joel Hernandez, nephrologist at […]
Let’s go back…way back, to 1977. The first Star Wars film was released and a gallon of gas cost 65 cents. That was the year Ed Marcuse, MD, MPH, a young physician who came to Seattle Children’s in 1973, joined the search committee to find a new nursing director for outpatient clinics. Marcuse and the […]
Once a year, the patient playroom at Seattle Children’s transforms. Usually it’s a place for patients to have fun and play with toys and games. But last Thursday, volunteers and Child Life staff members turned the room into every kid’s fantasy – a toy store where absolutely everything is free. Every holiday season, Children’s partners […]