John and Teresa Norris can tell you a thing or 2 about living under stress, and how it changed their perspective on life. Their daughter, Olivia, was born extremely premature in May 2016. She spent 332 days in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) at Akron Children’s Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Olivia’s airway was unusually […]
In memory of Jordyn Myers, her mom pushes forward on a mission
It took all she had for Lindsey Myers to pull up a chair at Starbucks and talk about her daughter, Jordyn. Some days, Lindsey just wants to stay in bed. She forces herself to move forward day to day, to tell Jordyn’s story and to do the hard work running a foundation she created in […]
Just like a family reunion: PICU staff and families celebrate life
Parents and grandparents, pushing strollers, hauling backpacks and holding the hands of little ones, joined with dozens of nurses and other staff of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for a one-of-a-kind reunion Sunday at Akron Children’s Hospital.It was the first-ever PICU reunion, a special day to reconnect for families and staff, far removed from […]
From soccer fields to Capitol Hill, Ethan takes on juvenile arthritis
The symptoms of juvenile arthritis came on quickly for Ethan Berkovitz. The pain in his legs at age 8 was such that sometimes his father had to carry him onto the school bus. The good news was that after Dr. Steven Spalding, director of the Division of Rheumatology at Akron Children’s Hospital, diagnosed the disease […]
Child Advocacy Summit highlights urgent need for sweeping reforms
Akron Children’s Hospital on Tuesday hosted its first-ever Child Advocacy Summit, a call to action for public policies focused on children’s health and well-being, amid a troubling backdrop of poor outcomes on key health measures, persistent social problems in our communities and partisan rancor in our politics. The summit at the Hilton Akron/Fairlawn marked 40 […]
Madalynn Shanks has a message for Gen Z about IBD
Madalynn Shanks is an actress, singer, creative writer and aspiring filmmaker. At 14, she is driven and confident. She always was eager to talk about story ideas or the latest character she dreamed up. But now she is also eager to talk about a disease that has changed her life. Madalynn was diagnosed with ulcerative […]
