Diabetes, Endocrinology, Patient Stories

Three sisters diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and thriving

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….

Read Full Story
Cancer, Leukemia

Normal childhood bruises or leukemia bruising? How to spot the difference

Leukemia bruising occurs more easily and frequently than typical bruising, may show up in odd places, tends to take longer to clear up and can be part of a number of symptoms seen on a child’s skin, according to a Louisville pediatric hematologist/oncologist. “Bruising from leukemia may occur for unclear reasons, and the bruises could…

Read Full Story
Heart

A toddler’s heart rate can increase with a fever

A toddler’s heart rate while resting is normally between 70 and 110 beats per minute (bpm), with the rate gradually moving toward the lower end of the range as a child gets closer to age 3. It’s normal for a child with a fever to have a higher heart rate or pulse as well as…

Read Full Story
Heart, Heart Transplant

Helping more kids survive the waitlist for a new heart

For many children on the pediatric heart transplant waiting list, the wait can be a year or longer — as available organs are directed to the sickest children first. For about three-fourths of those kids, it is less than three months before they are matched with a donor and the surgery is completed. The heart…

Read Full Story
Heart, NICU, Patient Stories, Surgery

Rare condition quickly diagnosed and treated by neonatal and multidisciplinary care specialists

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…

Read Full Story
COVID19, Neurosciences

COVID-19 appears to make existing neurological conditions in kids worse

Cases of COVID-19 neurological damage in kids have been rare, but children with chronic neurological diseases have seen their conditions worsen, according to a child neurologist in Louisville. “People have seen really small numbers of kids with rare complications spread across the country,” said Michael L. Sweeney M.D., a child neurologist with Norton Children’s Neuroscience…

Read Full Story
Cancer, Research

Norton Children’s Cancer Institute offers clinical trials for kids with AML

It’s the news no parent wants to hear: acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This cancer of the bone marrow — the spongy tissue inside bones where blood cells are made — is rare but dangerous, affecting about 500 children in the U.S. every year. Norton Children’s Cancer Institute is participating in two clinical trials for the…

Read Full Story
Epilepsy, Neurosciences

Treating seizures in children using electrical stimulation

Using electrical stimulation to treat seizures in children — neuromodulation — is a potentially life-changing treatment option for kids with drug-resistant, or refractory, epilepsy. “Neuromodulation is the alteration of nerve activity through targeted delivery of a stimulus, such as electrical stimulation,” said Ian S. Mutchnick, M.D., a pediatric neurosurgeon at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute. Small…

Read Full Story
Health & Wellness, News, Pulmonology

Study to look at effects of new greenery on children’s asthma

A new study by Norton Children’s Pulmonology will examine whether more trees and other plants in a neighborhood affects children’s asthma. The team, led by pediatric pulmonologist Scott Bickel, M.D., will evaluate changes in children’s asthma as thousands of new trees, shrubs and grasses are planted in a 3-square-mile section of South Louisville. The study…

Read Full Story
Cancer, Hematology

New drug treats hemophilia A in children

Norton Children’s Cancer Institute cares for children with hemophilia, blood cancers and many other diseases. Emicizumab is a new drug now being used for children with moderate to severe hemophilia A. Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder that stops a person’s blood from clotting, so it becomes difficult to stop bleeding once it starts, even from…

Read Full Story
Cancer, Hematology

Nurse known as ‘Sickle Cell Queen’ retires after 4 decades of care

June 6, 2021, marked the end of the long reign of the “Sickle Cell Queen,” LaVera Wilson. So-named by her colleagues, LaVera spent her 44-year nursing career with what is now Norton Children’s, much of the time as a lead apheresis nurse. “The first couple years, I started in general surgery, then moved to cardiology,…

Read Full Story
Adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), Heart

Norton Children’s Heart Institute earns accreditation from the Adult Congenital Heart Association

The only accredited program in Kentucky and Indiana, Norton Children’s Heart Institute is recognized for collaborative work to treat adults and children living with lifelong congenital heart disease. In recognition of its expertise in serving individuals with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), a structural heart condition present at birth, Norton Children’s Heart Institute earned accreditation…

Read Full Story