Ole Miss Rebels kick off Cotton Bowl at Children's

On Dec. 29, Britney Gavitt had just spent Christmas at Children's and needed a pick-me-up before heading into surgery the next morning. Her smile wasn't gone for long. As soon as the Ole Miss Rebels football team walked in the doors of the hospital, the 8-year-old perked up.

Since 2005, Britney has been a regular visitor at Children's. She was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease that attacks her organs and causes high fevers and intense pain.

"Right before the players got there, Britney found out about her surgery so she was all upset," said Holly Gavitt, Britney's mom. "But she came alive when those guys sat down next to her. They treated her like a queen."

More than 100 Ole Miss football players kicked off the 74th annual AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic with the patients at Children's. The team will take on Oklahoma State University on Saturday, Jan. 2, at the Cowboys Stadium.

Before meeting the rest of their young fans on the inpatient floors, Coach Houston Nutt and the players led patients in a "Go Rebels" yell to rev up the team before the big game.

"We try to teach our players to be difference makers," Coach Nutt said. "And that's what all of you here at the hospital are - difference makers for these kids."

The best Christmas gift of all: A new heart

Twelve-year-old Harley Duffer spent Christmas day like most other kids - opening presents delivered by Santa.

But instead of sitting by the tree at home, Harley celebrated at Children's, where he had been on the heart transplant list for nearly two weeks. Just when Harley finished unwrapping all of his gifts, he got the news that Dr. Kristine Guleserian had saved the best gift for last. He would be getting a new heart later that day.

"We were stunned; it was a surreal feeling and took a little while to soak in," said Sonya Duffer, Harley's mom.

Out-of-the-blue symptoms
Only a couple of months ago, Harley became short of breath and developed asthma-like symptoms. His parents took him to various doctors and finally received a diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy on Dec. 2. He had an enlarged heart and would need a new one to survive.

"He was always healthy as a horse," said Taylor Duffer, Harley's dad. "The day before we took him to the doctor he was running all over our farm having a ball. It was a real blow when we found out something wasn't right."

A heart for others
On the evening of Dec. 25, Dr. Guleserian, surgical director of Pediatric Cardiac Transplantation at Children's and assistant professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern, examined the donor heart to ensure a perfect match for Harley.

"We can't imagine being in the other mom's shoes and thinking of someone else when you've just lost your child," Sonya said. "What a giving, selfless person she is. We have many people praying for the donor's family to have peace in this very difficult time."

Christmas miracle
As soon as the transplant team assembled, Harley's surgery began. To show support for her patient, Dr. Guleserian wore a "Heartbeat for Harley" hat that his family had given her.

Dr. Guleserian and the team worked late that night and into the early hours of the morning. After connecting the new heart, Harley's gift was complete - he had a new, strong heartbeat.

"His heart was three times the size it should have been," Dr. Guleserian told family and friends in the waiting room. "He's doing great and is going to the ICU in rock stable condition."

Since surgery, Harley has continued to improve and if all goes as planned, he will be home just in time to ring in the New Year.

Dallas Cowboys bring holiday cheer to patients

Christmas came early for patients at Children's. On Dec. 21, blue and silver Santa hats filled the hospital as Dallas Cowboys players and cheerleaders delivered gifts and signed autographs.

For 12-year-old Harley Duffer, the visit couldn't have come at a better time.

"Harley had a really rough night and this lifted his spirits," said Taylor Duffer, Harley's dad. "We were on the edge of the hospital bed watching the Saints game the other night. Seeing the players who were just on the field walk in Harley's room touched us."

Harley has dilated cardiomyopathy - a condition that enlarges the heart and can lead to heart failure. He has been on the waiting list for a new heart since last week.

"It's been ripping on our hearts and we've been sacred to death," Taylor said. "But I keep telling Harley that the good Lord has us going through this hurdle for a reason, maybe to spread the word about cardiomyopathy."

Harley was one of more than 100 kids whose day was made brighter by players like DeMarcus Ware.

"I enjoy seeing the kids' smiles and being role models for them," Ware said. "You never know what they're going through and if we can brighten one day, especially close to Christmas, it's a great feeling."

Basic enough for an adult to understand

Patricia McDonald felt so confident in her 9-year-old son, Andrew, that she allowed him to conduct an entire telephone interview by himself with a hard-driving, relentless public relations representative – Me.
The third grader from Plano and I discussed how and why he raised more funds than any other male player in the Children Helping Children Junior Singles Tennis Tournament this fall. I didn’t have to speak to him in baby talk, and he never seemed like he had a difficult time grasping what I said. So, his mother’s confidence was justified.
But I regularly encounter kids at Children’s who are more mature than me; so, the fact that his eloquence and composure transcended mine wasn’t necessarily a surprise. What caught my attention was his eagerness to help out a place he had never been to and kids he had never met.

After all, why did he care?

Patricia told Andrew about the CHC tennis tourney in June, because she knew her son liked to participate in tennis tournaments, having played in them since he was 4. Something that made this one unique was its request for each participant to raise $250 for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s.
Andrew could have gotten by with just knocking on his neighbors’ doors to raise the amount. He did that. But he also asked his mom to drive him to restaurants around the Metroplex.
“I would walk in and ask for the managers,” Andrew said. “Then I would tell them I was doing a fundraiser for children with cancer, and most of the time they would give checks or gift cards to me. I raised more than $1,200 doing that.”
His next step involved his father, Robert, who identified the top 38 companies in Texas for his son. Andrew sent each one of the companies a letter requesting support with a personal signature. He raised more than $1,000 that way.
Those efforts combined with his online donation page resulted in $3,800 for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.
You’d think he would have been too worn out to play in the tourney, but he finished as the runner-up in the 10-year-old boy bracket. He plans to raise $5,000 next year and win his bracket.

But, again, why does he care so much?

“I want the kids to get better,” he said. “I heard Ken’s (CHC tourney co-founder, Ken Sumrow) son’s story, and he almost died. I want kids to be healthy and not to get cancer.”
Now, that is simple enough for me to understand.

Oh, Christmas Tree...

Decorated trees for Christmas are a German tradition that became popular in this country beginning in the mid-19th century, and now almost everyone has a decorated tree or even two, real or artificial. Some houses have individual trees in almost every room and many people go to great lengths to create lavish and coordinated holiday tree designs. However, to my mind, there’s nothing like looking at a giant real tree lit with thousands of lights and holiday ornaments.

That’s what we have at Children’s. The hospital had a ceremony last week to light the 32-foot-tall blue spruce Christmas tree that stands outside the new tower. In addition to the lights on the tree, there are thousands more white twinkle lights on the trees and shrubbery around the Dallas campus.

Santa Claus even made a special appearance to help light the tree with the assistance of patient Jakayla Tippen, 6. The next day, there was a tree lighting at our Children’s at Legacy campus in Plano for the patients there and Santa Claus was there too. He’s a busy elf.

The event made me grateful that Children’s goes that extra distance to make its patients feel the warmth of the season.

That’s because many of the children who came to see the tree lighting are inpatients, a lot of whom will not get outside this year to see the lights or feel the nippy air. And yet, they seemed engaged as they waited for the big tree to light up, clapping to holiday carols and pop tunes, wearing goofy “snowflake” foam rubber hats and red clown noses.

After the tree lighting, children could get their photos taken with Santa and even that was a sign of normalcy because a lot of kids looked distinctly unhappy about sitting on Santa’s lap. It could have been any mall in America except for the children’s IV poles and pale faces.

There’s a lot one can complain about concerning the commercialism of the holiday season, but the tree lighting at Children’s quashed my skepticism and made me glad it’s Christmas time.

Dallas Stars visit Children's

Stephany Jara, 9, of Lewisville, Texas, doesn’t really know who the Dallas Stars are, but her smile was a mile wide when members of the professional hockey team stopped by to visit her in the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCBD) outpatient clinic at Children’s Dec. 14. What girl wouldn’t smile when surrounded by a group of handsome young men?

One of the Stars Stephany got to meet was Brad Richards, #91, the team’s center. Richards has his own Brad Richards Foundation to help children with serious or life-threatening illnesses. At the American Airlines Center, Richards provides a suite for pediatric hematology-oncology patients, including patients from Children’s. He started the suite tradition when he played for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The foundation speaks volumes about the kind of man Richards is both on and off the ice. In fact, the National Hockey League has honored him with the Lady Byng trophy, which is awarded for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct.

When Richards and all the rest of his Stars teammates visited the CCBD and other patient areas on their day off, they passed out Beanie Babies and NHL blankets and autographs. But more importantly, they passed out a little holiday cheer to patients like Stephany who, despite not knowing her sports teams, got a great pick-me-up.

Snuggies from Jack

Jack Barker is a 12-year-old with an engaging smile and an easy manner. He also happens to be a patient in the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCBD) who saw a need here at the hospital and decided to take care of it. That makes Jack pretty amazing.

Diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia, Jack became a patient at Children’s in September. While in the waiting and exam rooms, the sixth-grader and his mother, Giora, noticed that some of the patients, including himself, got very cold.

When a former teacher gave Jack a Snuggie, an idea was born: Jack thought he’d give Snuggies to other hematology-oncology patients who might be cold. In case you don’t know, a Snuggie is a sort of big, long blanket with sleeves that the manufacturer acknowledges has become a pop culture phenomenon.

The original funding for Jack’s Snuggie campaign came from the sale of red rubber bracelets with his initials on them in his hometown of Coppell, Texas. As word about Jack’s idea spread, however, people began donating Snuggies. So far, more than 120 Snuggies have been donated to the Barker family to distribute. The Snuggie company, All-Star Product Group, has said it will help keep the program going by partnering with the family.

Recently, you could spot Snuggies everywhere in the cancer center’s outpatient medication infusion room. Patients who often spend a good part of their day hooked to IVs looked warm and cozy as they rested wrapped up in the bright colored Snuggies, and Jack was passing out even more blankets. On a day that was cold and snowy, it seemed a particularly warm gesture from such a bright young man.

You can read Jack’s own blog to find out more about him.

2009 Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon: One mother’s story

Editor’s note: The Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon happens this Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 10 to 12, on 103.7 lite fm. The Radiothon is a fundraiser with donations going to Children’s Medical Center and Cook Children’s in Fort Worth. Guest blogger Stacie Smith, the mother of a patient at Children’s Medical Center, shares her son’s story and explains why donations are so important to Children’s. To make a donation, call 877-719-5437.

When my 5-year-old son, Gavin, was 3, we learned that he had a highly malignant cancer called Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor (AT/RT). It had begun as a brain tumor. By the time it was found, it was the size of a large orange and, unfortunately, had spread to his spine.

My husband, Jeff, and I were willing to travel wherever we needed to be if that meant a better chance at saving Gavin’s life. We did our homework. We spoke with five top neuro-oncologists around the country. In the end, we felt confident that the best care truly was closest to home. Having Children’s Medical Center so close made it easier for us to see our younger son, Garrett. And it allowed him to more easily adjust to our family’s sudden change in routine.

Our initial days at Children’s Medical Center Dallas were fast and furious, filled with a number of tests and an intense neurosurgery to remove the tumor. It was shocking and scary. But the team at Children’s, led by David Sacco, M.D., made us confident that they were doing everything in their power to save our son’s life.

As Gavin recuperated from neurosurgery, we began our journey with our oncology team, led by Dan Bowers, M.D. The personalized care that patients at Children’s receive is amazing. Nurses knew that Gavin loved garbage trucks and would play along with him when he referred to his stomach as a “hopper.” They never complained when they had to stay late because of a blood transfusion that took longer than expected.

They made certain that Gavin hurt as little as possible. And they did everything they could to minimize the nausea he fought through his entire course of treatment.

Because of how aggressive Gavin’s cancer was, his treatment was also aggressive. And it took a toll on his little body. Chemotherapy was a long road – 14-and-a-half months. We used services at both the Dallas and Legacy campuses, and spent more days at the hospital than at home.

We got to know entirely too many employees quite well. But it felt nice when a member of the transport team who had driven Gavin by ambulance to the Dallas campus dropped by our room to check on him several months after they’d first met. Another caregiver gave Gavin his sunglasses after he wheeled him outside on a sunny day in May. He insisted that Gavin keep them. Even the parking garage attendant would ask how our little guy was doing.

By the end of treatment, our caregivers at Children’s felt like family.

All of this and more is why I am passionate about supporting Children’s. It’s a not-for-profit hospital, which means it depends on donations to provide the best care for our children. This time it was my child that needed superior medical treatment. Tomorrow it could be yours.

Much love,
Stacie Smith

From a patient mom's perspective

Stacie Aulds, mom of 3-year-old AJ Wells, shares her story from Selena Gomez's visit to the hospital on Dec. 6:

Selena Gomez of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place visited Children's. My son AJ Wells was fortunate enough to meet her. AJ was diagnosed with leukemia in April of this year. During his treatment so far, he has been hospitalized four times. As a 3-year-old little boy, it is hard to sit in the hospital feeling poorly, while many doctors, nurses and others are constantly visiting to listen, evaluate, push medications, etc.

One of the shining moments for him is to visit the playroom and participate in the parties and crafts. Even on days that he is too sick to visit, the crafts and party favors are brought to his room so he can participate when he is feeling like it.

Last week, AJ had visits from characters who were in the Children's parade. These visits always bring a smile to his face as well as ours. He forgets that he is in the hospital and instead feels like a very special little boy meeting very nice people. AJ has seen Selena on TV and did recognize her from the show, however, to him she was another beautiful girl who put a big smile on his face and gave him a hug.

For us, it is a memory we will have forever.

After a rough year, 15-year-old meets Selena Gomez

Last summer, Elizabeth Cortez's life changed overnight. On July 7, Elizabeth splashed in the pool with friends, and the next morning she couldn't move.

"I screamed to my mom from my bed," Elizabeth said. "Everything was numb. My mom put me on my feet and I just collapsed when she let go."

She was rushed to the hospital where doctors diagnosed her with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological disease that causes inflammation of the spine. She has since regained feeling in her legs and feet but not her arms or hands.

"It's weird because I'm only 15 and have always been healthy," Elizabeth said.

She takes 18 pills each day in hopes that the medication will ease the inflammation and reverse the paralysis.

The teen is from Grand Prairie, the same hometown as Selena Gomez, and has posters of her favorite celebrity plastered on the walls at home. A surprise visit at the hospital from Selena bolstered Elizabeth's spirits as she recovered from another bout of pain and numbness in her legs and feet. Elizabeth serenaded Selena with a meaningful song - "Story of My Life" by Frankie J.

"The song shows that even through the darkest days, God will always bring a rainbow at the end," Elizabeth said.

In Elizabeth's words:

"This year has been the toughest of my life. In July, I became paralyzed and had to learn to walk again and am still not able to use my hands. As anyone could imagine, I haven't had very many good things to say about this year, until today! Because of Children's, I was able to meet Selena Gomez! I was so excited and grateful for the opportunity to meet her. I was able to sing to Selena and I took lots of pictures with her. Even though I might have a lot of bad memories from this year, I now have one of the GREATEST memories that I will always remember. Thank you Children's!!"

Watch Elizabeth sing to Selena:

See Selena Gomez in the Children’s parade

See photos of guest star Selena Gomez at the 22nd Annual Capital One Bank Adolphus Children’s Parade benefiting Children’s Medical Center. For many, the parade kicks off the holiday season each year.

Did you attend this year’s parade? If you did, leave a comment and share your story.

A bounty hunter brightens patients' days

It's not every day that you see a bounty hunter hanging out with kids. Today some of the characters that will appear in the 22nd annual Capital One Bank Adolphus Parade visited the hospital to bring cheer to the kids who won't have a chance to be there tomorrow.

One patient in particular stood out to me. Kristin Alcarez, the tiniest patient there, was standing in awe, blowing kisses to all the characters who passed by. The 19-month-old is waiting for a new liver so today's visit was a welcome distraction for Kristin and her mom, Brenda Maciel.

Kristin is just one of the patients that Levi Larkin, a Star Wars bounty hunter, visited today. Since Larkin's first visit to Children's a couple of years ago, he has been on a mission to put smiles on patient's faces.

Read more about Larkin's experience in his words:

Some may find it strange when they ask me what my hobby is. I'm a Stormtrooper. When I was a young boy, I wanted to be a stormtrooper or a Jedi. I used anything I could find in the house to use as my light saber. Lucus brought so many adventures to my home with his creative story of intergalactic drama. As the years went on, I still found joy in collecting and following Star Wars. But my greatest joy came the day I completed my stormtrooper armor, and joined the 501st Star Garrison. Little did I know my second event would change the way I looked at my dream. My second "tour of duty" as TK-9950 was to visit Children's the day before the parade. I was joined by two fellow troopers and a little droid name R2-D2. That day I was blessed with meeting some of the greatest people I would ever know. These children smiled and hugged us. To see these kids so happy in the face of such adversity shattered that selfish part of me that joined the 501st for me, and reforged it to a new mission.

The next day I participated in the Children's parade. I marched the streets in the cold with my other brothers and sisters. I returned in 2008 to visit the hospital and march in the parade. That year we captured one of my favorite photos. The very embodiment of what we do. A picture of Darth Vader, evil Lord of the Sith, being led down the hallway by the hand of a little boy.

Tomorrow I will be marching again with my heroes - the little boy and girl warriors who battle every day for the next, and survive. And I am proud to stand by them.

For one patient, heart surgery led to the chance of a lifetime

Since Klaire Hicks underwent life-saving heart surgery on Oct. 20, it's been a whirlwind. Only two-and-a-half weeks after two holes in her heart were repaired at Children's, Klaire flew to Hollywood to film a commercial with recording artist and Disney star Selena Gomez. And today The Dallas Morning News followed her around Velma Penny Elementary School in Lindale. The photographer captured "a day in the life of Klaire" in anticipation of tomorrow's 22nd Capital One Bank Adolphus Children's Parade where she will make another debut.

If you're curious about Klaire's visit with Selena, look at our photo gallery for a sneak peek of behind-the-scenes moments and watch the commercial during the parade's live coverage tomorrow on WFAA-TV. It will also air on more than 350 television stations at various times throughout the holiday season.

Some relief for scale-aphobic children

It's ironic that now, when "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" plays on every strip-mall loudspeaker in America, I recall the least wonderful time of the year for me in elementary school - thanks to a recent Dallas Morning News article.

Mrs. Galloway was a wonderful elementary P.E. teacher. Very encouraging. Very fun. I looked forward to every one of her classes but one - the annual weigh-in. On this end-of-school-year judgment day, our beloved instructor would line us up like little ducklings (or pachyderm in my case) and put us on the scales for the whole class to see. It mortified me. Every year, I tried to contract convenient illnesses, but, alas, there was never any flu to be found.
You see, I grew quick... and I kind of liked food (still do). My weight was at least in the top 3 every year, sometimes 40 to 50 pounds heavier than my friends'. No matter how good of an athlete I was, whether I ran the mile a minute faster than everyone else or could slap a basketball backboard, I inevitably became "fat boy" on weigh-in days. Granted, I had years of roundness in mid-elementary that warranted the title, but I felt like I grew out of that by fifth and sixth grade. The weight scales unfortunately didn't indicate any difference.
In the whole "no pain, no gain" scheme of things, I probably became a better person for enduring the yearly ordeal. But I also obtained insecurities about my image and a sense of helplessness about my weight that linger to this day.

In the aforementioned DMN article, our own Dr. LeAnn Kridelbaugh - pediatrician and physician nutrition specialist at Children's - says that childhood fitness cannot be accurately measured by a weight scale alone. She adds that simple Body Mass Index numbers don't really produce accurate measures for kids, either. "With kids these numbers are moving targets," she says. "A normal BMI or waist circumference for a 10-year-old would be horrific for a 5-year-old. Although there are some norms for waist circumference, we don't focus on them. Instead pediatricians plot a child's height, weight and BMI on a curve."
In case you missed it, the key word in that quote is "curve," and she's not talking about shapeliness. The curve Dr. Kridelbaugh mentions has a lot more in common with your college calculus grade than your chest-to-waist ratio. The idea is that fitness measurement numbers (BMI calculation, waist circumference, weight, body fat percentage, etc...) should be interpreted relative to each child. One hundred and fifty pounds may be healthy for one child and unhealthy for another. Dr. Kridelbaugh says the truest statistical way to track your child's health is to monitor his BMI percentile range according to his age and gender.
"If you see that one year a child is in the 50th percentile and the next year he is in the 75th percentile that's cause for concern even if the BMI is still in the normal range," Kridelbaugh says. "A child should be at one percentile his whole life. If he's jumped that much, it's time to start thinking about what the child is eating and drinking and how active he is."

If instructors, coaches and parents heed this advice, a lot of kids might avoid unjustified image complexes. More importantly, they will be able to discern which kids truly do need to make adjustments.

As far as I go, well, I'm just glad that we don't have annual weigh-in days at work. Trying to get sick is harder than you'd think.

A clinic just for stuffed animals

It seems like every time I walk the halls of the hospital, I leave inspired. It's a magical place where all the needs of the children are met, not just the physical ones. It's a place where a teddy bear clinic is just as important as a child's medical treatment.

I didn't know what to expect at a clinic for stuffed animals. What I found immediately put a smile on my face. In the corner of the room, nurses wheeled a penguin out of "surgery." The animal was attached to an IV pole and wore a mask for anesthesia. A nurse carefully placed the penguin in the owner's hands before they moved onto their next patient.

Children got to walk in their parent's footsteps for a day as they lined up at different stations with their most prized possessions. Many had concerned looks on their faces when they handed over their beloved animals at triage, radiology, IV, X-ray and surgical areas designed just for the miniature patients.

I watched the children go through the process, and I could only imagine how empowering it felt for them to be making the decisions.

One of the decisions 7-year-old Madeline Smith made that day was her bear's symptoms. She told clinicians that "Andy" had tummy problems. Madeline could relate since she's been dealing with tummy problems of her own since birth. She has Methylmalonic Acidemia Disorder, a metabolic condition that causes her to have five to six bouts of pancreatitis each year in addition to anemia and kidney disease. She gets a special formula and takes many medications each day.

"All of the child life specialists we know and love worked at the clinic," said Trey Smith, Madeline's dad. "Not only was it comforting but it was also educational for chronic patients like Maddie."

Andy had an IV placed in his arm before undergoing an MRI scan and having his blood drawn. He was diagnosed with appendicitis and would need surgery.

"We always try to explain to Maddie why she has to get her blood drawn," Smith said. "It was neat for her to see her bear's blood under the microscope. They even explained how they look for cultures."

Madeline kissed Andy goodbye before surgery and sat patiently in the waiting room. Within minutes, Andy's tummy problems were fixed and the duo was on their way.