Victoria A. Statler, M.D., works hard to educate children undergoing transplants on ways to avoid potentially dangerous infections. She also treats them when they do get sick. Children receiving transplanted organs or bone marrow take medicines to help their bodies accept the transplant. The drugs work by suppressing the immune system, so transplant recipients are…
Alyssa Claycomb considers her first two children “healthy as horses.” So during her pregnancy with her youngest child, Cayden Horton, the thought of congenital heart disease never entered her mind, let alone a very rare and usually fatal complex heart abnormality. The anatomy scan during her 22-week OB/GYN visit would change everything. Anatomy ultrasound leads…
People like you helped raise tens of thousands of dollars to support kids at Norton Children’s Hospital by sending stuffed animals through SendAFriend — an online store that ships fluffy friends with personalized messages. This Valentine’s Day, you can purchase a SendAFriend package to be delivered to a patient at Norton Children’s Hospital under an…
Doctors have a new way to detect heart and other conditions in Western Kentucky babies even before they’re born. Norton Children’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine, on the campus of Med Center Health, Bowling Green, Kentucky, recently installed state-of-the-art diagnostic and ultrasound equipment. The equipment is designed to identify complex anomalies in unborn babies through early detection so…
When Ashley Eastman, R.N., has an appointment to monitor her adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), she simply leaves her desk, walks to the front desk, checks in, and waits to be called. As a nurse clinician for Norton Children’s Heart Institute she understands the journey of a child with congenital heart disease. Diagnosed with a…
Kids with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) are recovering after treatments with anti-inflammatory drugs such as intravenous immunoglobulin and steroids, according to Brian J. Holland, M.D., chief of pediatric cardiology at Norton Children’s Heart Institute. Children who’ve come to the Norton Children’s Pediatric MIS-C Multidisciplinary Clinic are recovering after being hospitalized with moderate to…
In 1940, children born with severe congenital heart disease (CHD) had less than a 10% chance of living to age 18. Over the years advanced new treatments, including surgeries, were developed. Survival rates improved: Children born in 1960 with CHD had less than 20% survival rate. In 1980, the survival rate had improved to 80%….
Kara Ainsley is a registered nurse at a rehabilitation facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She can tell when things are going smoothly and when they aren’t. After a relatively uneventful pregnancy, she labored the morning of May 31, 2015, at the local hospital. If there was anything unusual about her labor it was the duration…
Caring for children born with complex heart conditions can be challenging and stressful for families. Treatment involves long hospital stays and sometimes multiple open heart surgeries. Being well enough to go home is a big step, and the transition from round-the-clock hospital care to home requires education and close monitoring. These complex conditions such as…
Pediatric cardiologist Sarah J. Wilkens, M.D., MPH, has trained to care for the sickest children — heart failure and transplant patients. “Ultimately what motivates me are the patients and trying to support their families in these difficult situations,” Dr. Wilkens said. Equally important, she said, is seeing her patients as they grow up — then…
The heart condition of mitral valve prolapse, also known as floppy valve syndrome, involves two flaps in a heart valve that don’t close smoothly or evenly. The condition, which requires monitoring once diagnosed, affects 2% of the population, and most don’t even know they are living with it. “Mitral valve prolapse, also known as Barlow…
With youth sports returning to action with precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic, pediatricians are conducting yearly sports physicals to make sure kids are healthy and fit to engage in physical activity. A sports exam includes a health history questionnaire and a check of vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and respiration. “As…