Philanthropy

Patients, families and staff gathered together at the hospital main campus today to raise the 12th Man flag and cheer on the Seattle Seahawks.

Seattle Children’s has received incredible support from the Seattle Seahawks. Not only does quarterback Russell Wilson make weekly visits to our patients and families, but many other Seahawk players, the Sea Gals and even the Seahawks’ mascot Blitz have spread joy throughout the hospital!

To celebrate the Seahawks’ return to the Super Bowl, Seattle Children’s patients, families and hospital staff showed their Seahawks pride today by coming together in their brightest and bluest attire and raising the 12th Man Flag outside the hospital’s main campus.

“We got to meet Russell and many of the other Seahawks over Christmas,” said Katie O’Day. Her 7-year-old daughter Kennedy is currently receiving cancer treatment at Seattle Children’s and helped raise the 12th Man flag today. “One player even hung out and played video games with her for a half hour! It’s was so amazing that they took the time to brighten up her day. It made coming in for chemotherapy much easier!” Read full post »

Jennifer Bevaart’s son William was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease in September, 2014.

In honor of National Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day, we are sharing the story of William, a 10-year-old boy who lives with the disease, and why Seattle Children’s, an international leader in Kawasaki disease research, is the best place for children like William to receive treatment.

In September, Jennifer Bevaart’s son William developed a fever that lasted for days. He was lethargic, had a rash on his chest and his eyes were bloodshot. Over the next two weeks, Bevaart took William to at least four different specialists, each of whom suggested a different diagnosis: a sinus infection, walking pneumonia, bronchitis, even scarlet fever. Each treatment failed to ease William’s symptoms. He went from an active, tae kwon do enthusiast to a weak boy who was too weak to walk even the short distance to the mailbox without lying down to rest.

“Call it mother’s intuition, but I just knew something was very wrong with my son,” Bevaart said. “I felt like I was watching him die.” Read full post »

Russell Wilson visits patients and their families at Seattle Children’s each Tuesday.

Each Tuesday, the hospital is decked out in blue and the halls are buzzing with excitement as Russell Wilson stops by to visit with our patients. In this blog, Russell shares why he is so dedicated to supporting the families at Seattle Children’s. 

Sunday is game day for me, but my best day is Tuesday when I visit Seattle Children’s. All the amazing opportunities I’ve had on the field can’t compare to helping kids whose lives are on the line.

I started volunteering a couple of years ago. I’m humbled by the courage of the patients and families I meet and proud to witness the amazing work of the nurses and doctors who care for them.

Hospitals aren’t scary for me. I spent a lot of time visiting my dad in one before complications from diabetes took his life in 2010. He was only 55 years old. His experiences helped me better understand the unique challenges that hospitalized children and their families face. Their strength has been an inspiration to me. Read full post »

Now that the halls have been decked and the most wonderful time of the year is over, Dr. Jim Hendricks, president of Seattle Children’s Research Institute, took down the holiday tinsel from his work station and spent a moment reflecting on the research institute’s greatest accomplishments of 2014.

There were so many exciting developments over the past year that it’s impossible to fit them all in one short list, but here are some outstanding achievements that come to mind.

• Our investigators had an incredibly successful year when it comes to funding, including government, nonprofit and industry sources. Our total funding increased from $76 million in fiscal year 2013 to nearly $92 million in fiscal year 2014, which represents a 21% increase. This success is a testament to the talent of our investigators considering that the competition for federal grants has increased steadily as the available federal funding has decreased. This funding will help us get closer to finding more treatments and cures for pediatric diseases.

• We continued our first T cell cancer immunotherapy clinical trial this year and opened enrollment for two additional trials. This ground-breaking therapy reprograms the body’s infection-fighting T cells to find and destroy cancer cells with minimal side effects. While our first trial, PLAT-01, continues treating patients with relapsed leukemia, a second trial treating leukemia patients with T cell immunotherapy has had great success thus far. Additionally, a new trial opened in November to treat neuroblastoma using immunotherapy.

Read full post »

As we head into the New Year, we’d like to reflect on some of the incredible clinical advancements of 2014 that show how our doctors have gone the extra mile for our patients.

In the Children’s HealthLink Special video above, watch how futuristic medicine has saved the lives of the littlest patients at Seattle Children’s. From 3D-printed heart models to liquid ventilation, doctors and families reveal the amazing benefits of innovative treatments that challenge the status quo. Read full post »

In honor of the New Year, we’re taking a look back at some of our most popular and memorable blog posts from 2014. Below is a list of our top 10 posts. Here’s to another great year of health news to come. Happy New Year!

Lung Liquid Similar to One Used in Movie “The Abyss” Saves Infant’s Life, Doctors Encourage FDA Approval of Clinical Trials

Two doctors at Seattle Children’s went the extra mile to save Tatiana, one of the sickest babies they’ve ever seen. They got ‪FDA‬ approval to use a long-forgotten drug and are now inspired to help make this drug available to save more lives.

Visit with Macklemore Helps 6-Year-Old Heart Patient Recover

AJ Hwangbo was a happy-go-lucky 6-year-old without a worry in the world until mid-November when he developed a life-threatening heart condition. While specialists at Seattle Children’s Hospital helped AJ heal physically, the young boy struggled to bounce back emotionally. But, AJ’s joyful spirit returned after hospital staff arranged for him to meet his hero – local artist Macklemore. Read full post »

A hospital bed is not where most children wish to spend the holidays. They may worry Santa won’t be able to find them on Christmas. Fortunately, Seattle Children’s is Santa’s final – and favorite – stop along his Christmas route! Come Christmas morning, with his trusty elves in toe, he makes his way through the hospital to visit every single patient and their families. Read full post »

Shopping for Christmas presents wasn’t something Josh and Sharon McPherson had a lot of time to think about this year. All of their time and energy was focused on their 9-year-old daughter Ella, who underwent brain surgery at Seattle Children’s Hospital earlier this week. With Christmas day quickly approaching, they didn’t know if they’d be able to find the time or money to buy presents for their four children.

“We barely had time to brush our teeth,” said McPherson. “But as usual, Seattle Children’s thought of everything.”

Bringing a sense of normalcy to families

The Polar Place Market is new to Seattle Children’s this year. It offers parents and caregivers of inpatients a place to shop, free of charge, for presents for their kids without having to leave the hospital. Thanks to generous donations from the community, parents and caregivers were able to hand pick the perfect gift from hundreds of toys, books and movies. Read full post »

Sutton Piper, age 3

Sutton Piper, 3, was born with a metabolic disorder that made his muscles too weak for crawling, walking and talking. After being referred to Dr. Sihoun Hahn, a biochemical geneticist at Seattle Children’s, Sutton is bouncing on his mini-trampoline and chatting up a storm. 

Sutton Piper came into the world on his own terms: nine days late.

At 6 months, he’d made little attempt at rolling over; at 9 months, he showed no interest in sitting up on his own; and, by his first birthday, he wasn’t even trying to crawl. Read full post »

Elise Pele had been in labor for hours awaiting the arrival of her baby girl, Tatiana, on the evening of Aug. 29. Elise remembers wanting desperately to hear her baby cry – a sign that everything was ok. But that cry never came. She saw Tatiana for only a few seconds before nurses rushed her to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at a local hospital.

“I instantly knew something wasn’t right and I was terrified,” Elise said. “The doctors told me my baby wasn’t breathing right and had to be transferred to Seattle Children’s.”

Tatiana experienced meconium aspiration syndrome where she inhaled a mixture of meconium (stool) and amniotic fluid during labor due to stress, which obstructed and irritated her airways, leading her down a path where doctors thought she would likely die. Read full post »