Alayna Numbers looks like your typical, healthy and active 5-year-old with curly brown locks, lots of energy and an infectious smile that belies her recent battle with aplastic anemia, a rare condition where the body stops producing new blood cells, and if left untreated, can be fatal. While 2020 introduced social distancing and wearing masks […]
About Kathy Johnson
Paul Olivier named vice president of Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley
Paul Oliver may not be a native of the Mahoning Valley but he says the 20 years he has lived there is the longest he has resided in one place. He credits his strong ties to the area as one of the reasons he was selected to succeed Sharon Hrina as vice president of Akron […]
Local family advocates for daughter and those with rare connective tissue disorder
Brittani Tomic is moved to tears every time she hears the lyrics of Hillsong UNITED’s song “Another in the Fire” because it reminds her of a very dark period in her family’s life, as well as the light that finally appeared on the long journey to a diagnosis for her daughter. In fall 2018, at […]
Ballet dancer returns to form following rehabilitation regimen
Not many 11-year-olds can say with conviction what they want to do when they grow up. That’s where Callahan Conley, a 5th grader at Central Intermediate School in Wadsworth, is ahead of the game. When his parents Kate and Gregg witnessed him regularly dancing around the house at age 5, they asked if he had […]
Surgery to repair leaky valve mends 4-year-old’s “broken” heart
Addisyn Piekarski and her mom, Kristen, had just the right outfit in mind for Addisyn’s Jan. 13 follow-up appointment with her heart surgeon, Dr. Robert Stewart. Sporting a shirt covered in small hearts, with a large, sequin heart in the center, seemed fitting to meet with the man who just 8 days earlier had repaired […]
Magnetic growth rods help stabilize scoliosis for Suffield 3rd grader
Patrick Carr is no stranger to doctors or to Akron Children’s Hospital for that matter. Born with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes him to develop benign tumors in various areas of his body, he sees specialists in neurology, endocrinology and cardiology, and recently he added orthopedics to the mix. It was in 2018 at […]
