Getting messy for a cause

Jude Cobler’s life is sanitized for his own protection. Not much can be messy and that’s hard for a kid. But a couple of days ago, Jude got to be just the opposite of neat.

Jude, a patient at Children’s, underwent a bone marrow transplant in December 2010 and still has to be careful about his exposure to infection, but the other day he got to dip his hand in paint and squish it on a bright and shiny new car. The finger painting outing was part of a presentation for pediatric cancer research by Dallas-Fort Worth-area Hyundai dealers.

The dealers brought a white Santa Fe SUV to the hospital and encouraged patients to plant their hand prints on the car. The idea was to celebrate the children’s lives and to have them share their stories with children and families across the country that are participating in similar events for the carmaker’s Hope on Wheels program, which has raised funds for childhood cancer research initiatives for the past 13 years. The hand prints also were put on paper and will be made into decals for display by Hyundai dealers across America next year.

Grant for research

The hand prints were part of a ceremony by the area Hyundai dealers to award a $40,000 grant to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center for Dr. Raven Cooksey. Dr. Cooksey is a fellow at UT Southwestern in pediatric hematology-oncology. She practices at Children’s in the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. Children’s is where UT Southwestern doctors learn advanced pediatric medicine. The grant money is part of $2.7 million that the Hope on Wheels Tour will donate this year to back pediatric cancer research nationally.

Dr. Cooksey’s research is on metabolic syndrome in young survivors of brain tumors who were treated with radiation. Metabolic syndrome is the name for a group of health risk factors that can lead to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Dr. Cooksey is studying whether radiation may lead to metabolic syndrome.

But for Jude, the day was all about telling his story and spreading some bright green paint around. And if you remember at all what it’s like being a 6 year old, you know how important that is.

Bringing Home Allie Was Too Much for Momo

Editor’s note: This week is American Veterinary Medical Association’s National Dog Bite Prevention Week. Children’s is also focusing this month on injury prevention. To highlight both efforts, Melanie Medina weighs in with her family’s experience with dog bites, and shares tips from the veterinary behavioral therapist she worked with to treat her dog’s aggression.
The instant it happened, I knew we had to get rid of him. I loved this dog more than life itself. He was like my child — until I had a child and he tried to bite her.
That’s when it hit me: Momo is a dog. He is going to do what his DNA tells him to do, no matter how much I loved him and how much I tried to change him.
Growing aggression
It happened more than three years ago, but it still hurts to think about the day we surrendered Momo, our pug. My daughter was only about 10 days old. I had laid my daughter on the couch and was standing over her, about to swaddle her into a little burrito. Momo was standing there, right under my feet, with his eyes on Allie.


Momo lunged under my arm, up onto the couch and tried to bite Allie. He had the toe seam of her pajama pants in his mouth.
I screamed for my husband. We unsnapped my daughter’s pajamas and realized she was OK. If he had reached just a millimeter or two further, I’m confident he would have taken off her toe, or maybe her foot. Within 30 minutes, we were on the phone with DFW Pug Rescue, talking to the manager about surrendering Momo. My husband had the horrible task of driving Momo up to a vet’s office, where he left him for a Pug Rescue representative to pick him up.
Behavior therapy for dogs
But we had to do it. We’d had Momo for seven years, and his aggression slowly built up until it was out of control. A year before our daughter was born, we hired a behavioral therapist who specializes in aggression in dogs. Her opinion was that in most cases, a family’s new baby and old baby (the dog) can develop a loving relationship right from the start — unless the dog has serious pre-existing issues.
We hired her to help us sort out Momo’s issues, and his aggression definitely improved. But bringing a new baby into the home was too much for him. (The therapist we hired, Lecreca Taliaferro, DVM, has guidance on how your family can get your human baby and canine baby to bond.)
Pug wins graham cracker
Fast forward three years later. With Momo living happily ever after (I hope) in a new family’s home, I thought we were past worrying about dog bites.

But just a few weeks ago, Allie, who, thankfully, has both of her feet, was munching on a graham cracker. Our other pug, Spanky Mae, swiped it out of Allie’s hand. Allie swiped it back, but Spanky Mae wasn’t having it. Spanky jumped toward Allie to get it back, and in the process, bit Allie’s face. Spanky’s teeth barely grazed Allie’s skin, but it scared us, especially Allie.
My husband and I considered calling DFW Pug Rescue again but decided to keep Spanky Mae. After all, she didn’t have a history of biting or being the least bit aggressive. She just wanted that darn graham cracker.
Instead, we used the experience as a teaching moment for Allie. We told her, “When you’re fighting with a dog over food, the dog always wins. Mommy and Daddy can always get you another graham cracker.”
Nationally and locally dog bites on the rise
If my personal story hasn’t left an impression, maybe some statistics will. Here at Children’s, our Trauma department has seen a rise in patients being treated for dog bites. In 2001, we saw 15 kids for dog bites. By December 2010, that number rose to 36.
Our statistics mirror national ones. Since 2008, the number of Americans hospitalized for dog bites increased from 5,100 in 1993 to 9,500 in 2008, according to a government study. Children younger than 5 and adults older than 65 are most likely to be hospitalized for dog bites, to the tune of $18,200 on average for treatment.
Thankfully, my family didn’t fall into those statistics.
Shopping for cats?
DFW Pug Rescue later told us that Momo was adopted by a family who also owned a boxer. Momo tried to be aggressive in his new family’s home, but the boxer, who probably had a good 30 pounds on Momo, asserted his dominance. I think that’s what Momo needed.
And today, Allie insists that she wants a kitty cat, not a puppy dog. We’ll see about that.

The doctors Corrigan

As a third-year pediatric resident at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Dr. Nicole Corrigan can still be expected to have lots of medical questions. And while she can ask her colleagues for the answers, she can also call her mom.

That’s because Nicole’s mother is Dr. Suzanne Corrigan, who was a pediatric resident at Children’s 30 years ago and is a clinical associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Nicole and her sister Danielle, who’s a second-year pediatric resident at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, “call about day-to-day life that comes up in the practice of medicine that no one prepares you for,” Suzanne said.

Together, Nicole and Suzanne Corrigan are believed to be the only mother-daughter physician duo that has undergone pediatric residency training at Children’s.

Times have changed
Times have changed a lot in 30 years of pediatric residency training. For one, the hours of training are significantly shorter now and mandated by law. In Suzanne’s day, pediatric residents worked every third night or every other night, sometimes 100-120 hours per week. Today, Nicole legally can work no more than 80 hours a week.

Nicole also has more support staff to assist during shifts. During Suzanne’s days as a resident, they had to do their own blood draws and microscope work.

Additionally, there also weren’t nearly as many women in medicine 30 years ago. “There were 10 woman out of 200 in my class at UTSW and only four women in residency my year,” Suzanne said.

“It’s also very different for them than it was for us in terms of sheer volume of patients but also the severity of illness that Children’s physicians see,” Suzanne said.

Suzanne knew all this when Nicole was accepted as a pediatric resident at Children’s but also knew that her daughter would receive excellent training. “I told Nicole she was going to work really hard but would get the best training anywhere.”

Suzanne added: “I can’t say enough good things about the preparation we received and that they’re getting now — giving them the skills they need to critically think, analyze and put solutions together.”

Advice on medicine as a career
Suzanne’s advice for residents and medical students is simple: “If you’re going into medicine to make money, that the wrong way to go. You need to want to take care of children who are really ill. It’s a full-time job and you need to give completely of yourself when you are on the job. You also need a partner or someone who can be there for support,” she said. “You need to be able to put your cares aside. When you’re here, the patients, they’re your priority. You need to be able to compartmentalize.”

“The other big part of medicine is working with the parents and fighting for what’s right for the kids in the community. If you’re not working to do that, then you shouldn’t be in medicine.”

Nicole’s path
Nicole will be continuing her career at Children’s. She completes her residency in June and has accepted the position of third attending physician as a general pediatrician in Children’s Emergency Department.

Nicole said she “feels lucky to have such great training and exposure to superb role model pediatricians, especially her mother and feels blessed to have found her calling in pediatrics.” She added: “In what other professions are families so grateful for your care that you create a special bond with them, I feel lucky to be their doctor.”