When Mary Vaughn thinks back to when she realized her son needed help, one moment stands out. When he was young, she took James to jump on bounce houses with friends. It was busy and loud. He quickly became overwhelmed and upset, but he couldn’t form words to explain why. “I knew the words were…
As an active young boy growing up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Devan Riley experienced pains in his legs. He also endured recurring numbness on his left arm, which became more bothersome over the years. “As things progressed, we didn’t want to believe anything was wrong,” said Amy Wilson Harwood, Devan’s mom. “His previous doctors associated…
Savannah Garner is a trouper. That is the biggest takeaway from the people closest to her. The fifth-grade girl from Louisville has been living with a medical condition for most of her life. Savannah was diagnosed at age 2 1/2, and for eight years, she has undergone treatment at Norton Children’s Hospital and Norton Children’s…
Trey Adams is an active 11-year-old. He competes nationally in taekwondo and various styles of dance and practices one or the other pretty much every day. A little more than year ago, Trey started wetting the bed. When he went with his mother to his pediatrician to find out what was going on, a finger-prick…
Methotrexate and vincristine are complex words for most, but 7-year-old Beckham Goodale knows them and can pronounce them just as well as any doctor. They’re words no child should know, but this is the reality of pediatric cancer. Methotrexate and vincristine are Beckham’s chemotherapy treatments. He’s been battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia since December 2020. In…
It’s not a matter of how much heart you have, but how much heart you give. That is true for Johnathan Young. He was born with half of a working heart. Johnathan, age 11, is the youngest of Greg and Jill Young’s three children. When Jill had her 20-week pregnancy ultrasound, the clinician noticed something…
Many people spend family night having dinner or playing games, but for the Chrismans, family togetherness also involves glucose monitoring and changing insulin pumps. When their identical twin daughters, Quinby and Stella, were born, Natalie Chrisman and her husband, David, knew very little about Type 1 diabetes. There was no known family history of the disease….
When Leacoln Bale got a thumbs-up on her 20-week prenatal scan, she and her husband, Jeremy, felt relief. The scans looked great, and they were thrilled about having another healthy baby girl. Like her two older sisters — Ellie, 6, and 3-year-old Nora — Ava was born at home with assistance from a midwife. But…
On Valentine’s Day, 2020, Angel Florian received a 6-foot-tall plush rose from her boyfriend. It was a substitute for the real flowers he wanted to give her but couldn’t because her weakened immune system made it too risky. It was a year earlier, just after her 17th birthday, that Angel received a diagnosis of myelodysplastic…
Jennifer Pascual, like most teens, has many interests. The 13-year-old, who lives in Southern Indiana, enjoys spending time with her large family. She loves animals and has many pets. She likes to draw and paint, play music and sing. “I’m learning to play the ukulele,” she said. “It’s really fun.” Unlike most teens, however, Jennifer…
Kelsie Cooksey was devastated by the news from Katlyn Claywell, her friend, co-worker and Burkesville, Kentucky, neighbor, that Katlyn’s 19-month-old daughter Kamryn had been diagnosed with leukemia and needed prayers. Kelsie had a boy around the same age and felt her friend’s anguish. Days before, Katlyn had noticed a rash on her little girl with…
Avery Conover says she wants to drag race someday, just like her father, Ricky Conover. According to her mother, Kayla Conover, Avery is very independent and doesn’t give up. Kayla says that fighting spirit is how Avery has weathered surgeries and care of a single ventricle congenital heart defect. Kayla was surprised at her 20-week…