Pediatric Surgery

Brothers Zeke (left) and Isaiah (right) were both born with a rare condition. They received care from Seattle Children’s Reconstructive Pelvic Medicine Program.

Ezekiel, or “Zeke,” 7, and Isaiah, 5, had a life-threatening medical condition at birth. They were both adopted from China with anorectal malformations, which affect about 1 in every 5,000 babies. Babies born with these malformations have no opening at the end of the digestive tract where the anus normally is, requiring complex surgery.

After receiving emergency surgery in China, both received individualized follow-up treatments from Seattle Children’s Reconstructive Pelvic Medicine Program, which is the most comprehensive and experienced program of its kind in the Western U.S. The program brings together the knowledge and skills of experts from General Surgery, Gastroenterology, Motility, Gynecology, Urology, Radiology and Pathology.

“Seattle Children’s has been fantastic, and everyone that we have come across has been great,” said mother Robyn Ross. “Everyone even knew us by name, and they made the whole experience very easy to navigate.” Read full post »

Bear Brother, 1, underwent emergency spine surgery when he was diagnosed with a neurological condition known as a Chiari malformation.

Instead of picking up balloons and cupcakes, Lisa Hannigan and Robert Brother found themselves waiting in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Seattle Children’s one day before their son’s first birthday. In less than 36 hours, they had watched as their perfectly healthy son, Bear Brother, lost use of his arms and hands before he was rushed into emergency spine surgery for a neurological condition known as a Chiari malformation.

“It all happened so quickly,” said Hannigan. “After Bear’s daycare called me at work, we got to the Toppenish emergency center around 10 a.m. First thing the next morning he was going into surgery at Seattle Children’s.” Read full post »

A decade ago, the late Seattle Children’s surgeon, Dr. Richard Grady, began traveling to India for a special mission — to provide urgent surgical care to children born with a rare and complex disorder called bladder exstrophy (BE).

Grady’s dedication to helping under-resourced children in India led to the development of a unique international collaborative that aimed to alleviate the global burden of this surgically treatable disease, as documented in a recent article published in JAMA Surgery.

Dr. Paul Merguerian, division chief of urology at Seattle Children’s, who is helping to carry on Grady’s inspirational work, recalls his colleague’s passionate commitment to care for children not only in the Pacific Northwest region, but in a country located more than 7,000 miles across the globe.

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Oliver bounced back from overwhelming odds with an amazing recovery. His family is now looking forward to its first Christmas with him.

Brandi Harrington seized the first opportunity she had to touch her newborn son minutes before he was taken by ambulance to Seattle Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She and her husband, Tyler Harrington, were told Oliver had a 1% chance of surviving.

Propped up in a hospital bed following an emergency cesarean delivery seven weeks before her due date, Brandi saw Oliver for the first time. Tubes and wires connected all but one part of Oliver’s little, swollen body to machines that supported and monitored his breathing, heart rate and oxygen levels.

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Lillee Haynes, 4, surrounded by her three older brothers.

When 4-year-old Lillee Haynes runs through the doors of Seattle Children’s South Clinic for her speech therapy appointment and heads straight for a table covered in crayons, it’s hard to imagine that nearly two years ago she faced hundreds of epileptic seizures each day.

“Her seizures happened so often that I installed a camera above her bed to record any she had at night,” said Aimee Haynes, Lillee’s mom. “One night the camera recorded 200 movements. I was shocked to see how many seizures disrupted her sleep.”

Lillee’s brain didn’t rest until she underwent not one, but two neurosurgeries at Seattle Children’s to remove the diseased area of her left brain, allowing her healthy brain to grow and develop.

“You could say Lillee is most definitely right-brain dominant,” laughed Haynes. “That might explain why she has such a spicy personality.” Read full post »

Hudson received a portion of his uncle’s liver in July as part of a living donor liver transplant.

Jordan and Morgan Hill carry with them everywhere a custom-made coin inspired by their son’s liver transplant and the man who saved his life.

Morgan had the coin made weeks before his older brother, United States Army Special Operations Command Lt. Col. Trevor Hill, flew to Seattle from his home in North Carolina to donate part of his liver to his 8 ½-month-old nephew, Hudson.

“My brother saved our son’s life,” Morgan said. “Trevor has had what is called a challenge coin throughout his military career. It’s a sign of respect. It’s a symbol of someone’s unit and their life, and I wanted him to have one representing the incredible gift he gave us.” Read full post »

Grayson, wearing his black and white “Chucks,” weighed 1 pound when he was born. He overcame several life-threatening conditions while in the Seattle Children’s NICU and is now back home with is parents in Idaho.

For Leslie and Jeremy Barnett, Grayson’s black and white Converse Chuck Taylors represent a happy ending to a tough first chapter of life for their son, who weighed just 1 pound when he was born 18 weeks premature last November.

It took eight months and overcoming tremendous adversity for Grayson to grow into the tiny shoes he received the day before his 117-day stay in the Seattle Children’s neonatal intensive care unit ended.

“We were told that Grayson had this Mt. Everest of health challenges to climb,” Leslie Barnett said, recalling a conversation with Seattle Children’s and University of Washington neonatologist Dr. Maneesh Batra when her son was a few days old.

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At 7 months old, Spencer Nicholson underwent three surgeries to remove dead tissue from a rare disease he contracted due to a cat scratch.

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, claws out, ran him over. Spencer was left with a deep scratch on his right cheek.

His mom, Kelsey Nicholson, took Spencer to urgent care near their home in Arlington, Washington, where she received a prescription for antibiotics. But hours later, Spencer’s face started to swell. By that evening, Nicholson was so concerned that she took her baby to the emergency room at her local hospital.

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Emmett Seymer taking steps toward a diagnosis

Life did not start out easily for Emmett Seymer. He and his twin brother, Dashiell, were born at 29 weeks in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Emmett spent the first 30 days of his life on a ventilator because his lungs were underdeveloped. Doctors at the hospital had little optimism for Emmett and told his mother to prepare herself for him to pass away.

After 180 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Emmett was able to join his brother at home. Though he had significant difficulty breathing and an inability to swallow normally, he was finally stable enough to get out of the hospital.

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Daisie Losee

Daisie Losee had a rough introduction to the world. Her mother, Melissa, struggled to deliver her sixth child at an Idaho hospital. During the birth, Daisie suffered two injuries. Her broken right arm was discovered as they changed her clothes for the first time. Doctors tried to put a splint on her tiny bone, but the break between the shoulder and elbow was in such a small area that it was difficult to keep stable. The doctors had to improvise and make a sling that held her fist against her sternum to let the bone heal.

The second injury, brachial plexus, was more mysterious.  Neither Cory nor Melissa Losee had heard of that condition. For the first month after Daisie’s birth, she had no movement in her left arm and hand. The Losees saw five different doctors at the hospital in the first seven days of Daisie’s life. None of them talked about the injury to the left arm and the Losees were unsure what was happening with their newborn daughter.

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