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  • The meaning of true beauty: Talia’s story

    The first thing you’ll notice about Talia are her striking brown eyes opened wide with wonder, shining a light and a warmth that radiates from the inside out. And then her smile- a toothy grin that’s a little bit sweet and a little bit mischievous. With a sideways grin, she draws you in as if you’ve been best friends your whole lives.

  • Living through the uncertainties of Spina Bifida

    Written by Amanda Kern.

  • Inspired to give back after becoming a childhood cancer survivor: Whitney’s story

    After meeting Whitney, you would never realize the hardships she endured by spending most of her childhood in the hospital, battling several childhood illnesses. Instead, you would see a sweet, quietly confident 16-year-old girl who is passionate about art and medicine, as well as fundraising, pursuing excellence in everything that she does. While most girls her age are interested in the latest fashion trends, boys, and the usual high school drama, Whitney is different. Although she thinks about these things, she is on a greater mission. A mission to educate people on childhood cancer and to one day, find a cure for this ugly disease.

    The diagnosis that changed everything

    At eight years old, Whitney was diagnosed with a T-cell post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), or a T-cell Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer. In fact, it is so rare, that only one to two percent of the population in the United States is affected by this type of cancer today. Having been previously treated at a local hospital in Gainesville for a liver transplant that she underwent at the age of three, she began treatment for cancer there, so that her previous team of physicians could care her for. However, after three months of treatment, Whitney was not responding well, and her parents asked if she could be transferred to Arnold Palmer Hospital for treatment so that she could be closer to home. Once Whitney transferred, they started to see significant signs of improvement and she was finally responding to treatment. Over the course of her treatment, Whitney was a trooper and did extremely well. However, with the intensity of treatment that childhood cancer requires, there are good days and bad days. And some days, they feel so dark you wonder if there is a light at the end of the tunnel, according to her mom. Despite all of the trials and hardships that came her way, Whitney persevered through it all, and in April 2006 she was told she was “cancer-free!”

  • How a donor milk bank helps save the lives of premature babies (and how you can, too)

    Sometimes things just don’t go as planned. No one knows that better than parents whose child has been cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

  • Soothing your baby after shots with the 5 S’s

    As a new parent, bringing your child in for the 2 month and 4 month shots can almost seem unbearable. Watching your child’s eyes fill with a flood of tears after being stuck with a needle can cause many parents to second-guess the importance of these vaccinations for newborns. Parents are not the only ones who are concerned; doctors are too, which has led to research studies to find a better method for soothing a baby’s pain.

  • How to prevent your little one from choking

    You can tell I’m the mother of a toddler. I walk into a room and I may not make eye contact with you because I am too busy scanning every nook and cranny for things that my kid is likely to put in his mouth. It’s the time in my son’s life where what looks to you like a penny or a button looks to me like a death trap.

  • What it means if your child fails his/her newborn hearing screening part 2

    In our previous post, we discussed the newborn hearing screening. Now let’s discuss what a failed hearing screening means and what will usually follow. In general, there are two types of hearing loss: sensorineural and conductive. Conductive hearing loss occurs when there is a break in the conduction of sound between the outside world and the end of the stapes or 3rd hearing bone. The second type of hearing loss is sensorineural, or nerve-related. This can occur within the cochlea or anywhere along the path of the cochlear/auditory nerve and remainder of the pathways from the cochlea to the brain.

    Conductive hearing loss

    Conductive hearing loss is easy to understand: something is blocking the sound from getting into the inner ear. There are several things that can cause conductive hearing loss which results in a failed newborn hearing screening. The most common of these is fluid in the ear canal or middle ear. The middle ear space is filled with fluid in general up until delivery. As the baby is delivered, the movement through the birth canal helps push the fluid out of the middle ear space. When this does not happen effectively, fluid can remain in the middle ear space and cause a conductive hearing loss and a failed newborn screening. This usually goes away after a short time, but it can persist for 4-6 months and may necessitate a procedure to drain the fluid from the ears.

  • Cutting and self-injury: what to do if someone you know is hurting themselves

    “Is it weird that I cut myself on purpose?”

  • No more heading in youth soccer, but is this enough to keep kids safe?

    Concussions are a hot topic these days, and for good reason.

  • Car Seat Safety Guidelines: what you need to know.

    There are few things in parenting as complicated as the rules and regulations of car seats. And yet, there are few things as important for the safety and well being of our kids.