In downtown Seattle on Dec. 8, hundreds of festive runners dressed up for the Arthritis Foundation’s annual Jingle Bell Run. Among them was sassy 3-year-old Izzy Bock, who scampered down Fifth Avenue dressed as Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch. Onlookers would likely never have guessed this energetic child has juvenile idiopathic arthritis. “How long […]
Marilee Killpack describes the birth of her fourth son, Abram, as “magical.” After a typical, full-term pregnancy, Abram was born in Provo, Utah, weighing 9 pounds. He seemed to be healthy and strong, with one exception: He had petechiae all over his body — red dots that appear on the skin when tiny blood vessels […]
Imagine if you had a child who cried themselves to sleep at night because they had no friends; who called themselves “horrible” and drew disparaging images of themselves in their journal; who suffered physical pain when they wore clothes or gave you a hug. This was once the reality for Julie Munko and her daughter […]
Milton Wright III has only worked at Seattle Children’s for a couple months, but the hospital has been his second home for much of his life. Milton’s childhood unfolded within Seattle Children’s walls — making friends, experiencing loss and facing death more times than he can count. Today, Milton is back at Seattle Children’s — […]
At Seattle Children’s, many children and young adults with cancer are finding hope in T-cell immunotherapy – an experimental treatment that boosts a patient’s immune system and uses it to fight a disease. Seattle Children’s researchers are leading clinical trials in which a patient’s T cells are reprogrammed to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) […]
When asked about the birth of her daughter Harper, Sydney Beare lights up. “Harper was 8 pounds, 1 ounce, 21.5 inches and the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen!” she said. By all accounts, Harper was an exceptionally happy, and seemingly healthy, baby. She began sleeping though the night when she was just a few […]
A newborn boy was admitted to Seattle Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) earlier this year with arthrogryposis — a condition where an infant cannot move, their joints becoming frozen in place. When geneticist Dr. Jimmy Bennett met the infant, he was on a respirator and could only move his eyes. “We didn’t know the […]
Providers often must negotiate with patients and families, but how should disagreements be addressed when the discrepancy is rooted in the patient’s culture or beliefs? The Journal of the American Medical Association published an example of such a dilemma in 2008. “Ms. R” was a 19-year-old woman who lived in the United States for several […]
In February 2006, Chris and Michele Westerholm’s 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Jenna, was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma – a cancer made up of cells that normally develop into skeletal muscles. At the time, Michele was 11-weeks pregnant with her son Braden. “It was frightening to imagine what life would be like, having a child with cancer and […]
For the first 15 years of his life, Ryan Wyckoff appeared to be a perfectly healthy, active teenager, living with his family in Wasilla, Alaska. But during New Year’s weekend in 2009, Ryan began to feel seriously ill. He was lethargic and had a high fever that could not be controlled by acetaminophen. Ryan was […]
