How do you celebrate the 1-year anniversary of successful heart surgery? For Bryce Ripley and his family, there was no better way to mark the occasion than a visit back to Akron Children’s Hospital to support patients in need of a boost. The 5-year-old, his mom, Tracy, and sister, Reyna, who is 9, visited the […]
An unlikely pregnancy, a life turned upside down
Last July, Stephanie Stoudmire of Canton got news she never imagined possible. She was pregnant. At 38, she had 2 children and 3 stepchildren, and just started a new job as a scheduler for a fire-protection company. After the birth of daughter, Malia, 2 years ago, Stephanie underwent tubal ligation — one of the most […]
Donor makes Mother’s Day special for NICU moms
Merissa Rodino didn’t expect to be celebrating her first Mother’s Day quite this soon, but when her son was born 6 weeks early last week, she accepted it as a pleasant surprise. “I’m still trying to process what being a mother is like, but part of what makes it special is that it was unexpected,” […]
New neonatologist helps tiny patients breathe easy
New neonatologist Karin Plummer Potoka, MD, FAAP loves caring for the tiniest patients in the Mahoning Valley area. Although she treats infants for a variety of conditions and birth defects, she has a passion for finding new and better ways to diagnose and treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious complication associated with chronic lung disease […]
Donation brings comfort to NICU families
Recently, families with babies in the Akron Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Akron General got a surprise when the dark and soothing atmosphere gave way to cart after cart of brightly colored gift bags. The bags were a donation from the students at Saint Francis de Sales School in Coventry Township. The group, […]
A medical mystery unraveled, Addyson Staup is thriving
Addyson Staup has an appetite, and she likes most of the food her parents eat, in pureed form. She runs, she talks and she plays. At 21 months, she’s hitting developmental milestones. She’s a different child from the girl who not long ago was barely able to swallow or use her muscles. Addyson was in […]
