In retrospect it all happened so fast. Linda and Ryan Amstutz watched in disbelief as their 3-year-old son, Colton, went from his normal, happy life of perpetual motion to his admission to pediatric intensive care, where doctors told them his young heart was failing and he might need to be put on the list for […]
Team Stella’s classroom purple party, teddy bear drive celebrates epilepsy awareness with staff
There were purple streamers and balloons, cookies with purple icing, purple props for the photo booth and purple prizes for games. The purple party in Stella Miller’s fifth grade classroom at W.S. Stinson Elementary School in Canal Fulton was a celebration of Epilepsy Awareness Month and a reward for Stella’s class in collecting the most […]
Special needs don’t stop kindergartner from having a ball on bowling outing
When you are 5 years old and it’s a Tuesday morning, what could be better than going on a field trip to a bowling alley with your class? Jack Cleavenger has special needs but he was able to go bowling because Emily Ocheltree, a medical assistant in Akron Children’s School Health Services, was right by […]
Let the pampering begin: New hospital hair salon opens for patients, parents
When your son has spent 6 of the last 12 months in the hospital, simple “everyday” things – like getting your hair trimmed – tend to get neglected. That is the case for Nancy and Tom Ely, who have spent countless hours bedside with their 13-year-old son, Daniel. Daniel has autism, cerebral palsy, a degenerative […]
Mom was ‘tidying up’ Marie Kondo style but just couldn’t pitch a 16-year-old business card linked to her son’s NICU stay
Christine Sicker was doing Marie Kondo proud. Inspired to clean her house and organize her closets and drawers according to advice from Kondo, the bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and now the inspiration for a hit Netflix series, Christine was organizing and folding clothes according to the KonMari technique. But, in […]
Baby’s homecoming has been ‘well dreamed, well wished & well prayed for’
Brittany Hill has been dreaming of the day when she can wake up and have her whole family under one roof, when she can play with her baby, Stephen, on her living room floor, when she no longer has to drive more than an hour to see him or wish him “sweet dreams” at bedtime […]
