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 […]
Her young life spent in the NICU, Jaelee Hill finally goes home
Born extremely premature at 24 weeks, Jaelee Hill suffered a cascade of medical complications that kept her hospitalized for almost 16 months. She was so ill with pulmonary problems that at one point, her mother, Jennifer, was told to prepare for the worst. But on Thursday morning, the staff of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit […]
Pregnant and scared, Oklahoma mom finds her way to Akron Children’s Heart Center
Jessica Culbert was desperate for medical treatment to fix a defect in her heart’s electrical circuitry that caused an abnormally fast heartbeat. The defect, called supraventricular tachycardia, at times pushed Jessica’s heart rate as high as 240 beats per minute. She never knew when it might come on or how long it would last. It […]
Ablation with no radiation: Dr. John Clark advocates for safety
Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. John Clark stood over a patient who was under anesthetic for a heart catheterization procedure at Akron Children’s Hospital. He pointed to a red image shaped like a caterpillar on the wide screen. That’s the ablation catheter inside her heart. He will use the catheter tip to destroy an abnormal electrical pathway […]
Parents of children with autism have an advocate in Jessica Fister
Parents of children diagnosed with autism face a difficult and uncertain path. There are worries about school, how a child will be treated by others and whether he or she will be able to function on their own, said Michael Ott, the parent of a 10-year-old boy with autism. Michael and his wife, Ginger, are […]
Adapt-A-Car provides gift of mobility for kids with disabilities
The battery-powered, ride-on cars look a lot like the ones displayed in the toy section of your local superstore. But these cars are much more than toys. For children with disabilities, power wheel cars open a new window to the world. For the last several years, an Akron non-profit called Inclusioneers has brought together local […]
