By Heather DugeThree-year-old Rylee McLemore and his dad Steven do everything together. Fishing, driving in the Jeep and exploring outdoors are just a few of their favorite pastimes. “Rylee is a daddy’s boy,” Steven said. “He is my best friend and I’...
Child Life Week: This week, we’re celebrating our Child Life Specialists at Cook Children’s who make an impact on the emotional safety of children and families in health care.By Lauren Bridge, MS, CCLS, AYA Child Life Specialist at Cook Children’s He...
By Ashely Antle It’s hard to imagine how a stroke could be a blessing in disguise, but Joseph and Allison Turner believe it was for their son, Owen, when he was just 8 months old.“The stroke caused all kinds of battles that we’re still battling today...
For two nurse residents at Cook Children’s, walking a mile in a patient’s shoes isn’t too hard to imagine because they’ve been there, or rather, here. Jason Schilder and Emily Whitworth have both experienced life as a patient at Cook Children’s. In f...
By Ashley Parrott
In August 2017, Ethan was playing tag with his cousins around the house when he fell. His mom, Lauren Findley, kept asking him what was wrong, but after a few minutes of coaxing, she and her husband quickly realized Ethan needed ...
By now, you may have been one of the more than 350,000 people across the country who watched the video featuring Joey Belles, a Cook Children's Hematology and Oncology patient, complete his version of a marathon last month. If not, you can still watc...
Every three minutes someone in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. For 70% of those patients, the only hope for a cure is a bone marrow transplant from someone outside of their family.
This is...
Bellanne (Bel) Coonrod never met a stranger. To Bel, everyone could use a little extra love, especially on the Hematology and Oncology floor of Cook Children’s.
Bel knew the hallways of Cook Children’s well. Born with a medley of complex medical d...
As the parents of six, Dave and Jeanie Caselman have mastered the art of handling whatever life throws at them. Whether it’s school events, sports, graduating from high school or starting college, they thought they had experienced it all with the...
By Ashley Parrott
Life as a parent with a child who has Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is already frightening enough, but could you imagine this diagnosis with two of your kids?
Mykhia and Malik, now 11 and 12 years old, were diagnosed with SCD with...
Are you between 18-44? You could save a life through the Be The Match program. Joining the Be The Match Registry means volunteering to be listed as a potential blood stem cell donor, ready to save the life of any patient in need of a transplant.
Y...
The diagnoses of a child with cancer causes devastation for the entire family.
The life-changing news can mean the loss of a “normal” life. Even the most straightforward cancer with a 95-percent cure rate can impact jobs, marriage and the children...
As a nose tackle on his youth football team, Landyn Gray is a tough kid.
So when he complained that he “felt funny,” his parents took notice.
It was late in the summer, a few weeks before school, and Landyn was at football practice in Arlington...
In my first article, I introduced you to our family and described the first few years of our daughter’s treatment for leukemia. On her last day of treatment, August 29, 2011, doctors discovered that leukemia had relapsed in Tatum’s cerebral spinal fl...
One of the greatest joys in life is becoming a parent. Babies bring vibrant life and wonder to the world around us and instantly reveal a much deeper capacity for love than we thought possible. Yet no matter how great our effort to help them grow and...
The last thing Jeff Murray, M.D., wants to do is be interviewed for this story.
It’s not about being rude or even shy, it’s just he wants to make darn sure the love is spread around for the people that make up the Neuro-Oncology Program at Cook Ch...
A jet explodes into flames. Dastardly villains capture a Cook Children’s oncologist, take her away and tie her up at a nearby helicopter.
All hope seems lost, until an urgent call is placed to a grade school in Grand Prairie, Texas on an otherwise...
At first glance, brothers Garrett and TJ Little don’t share a whole lot in common.
First, there’s a seven-year age difference. Then, Garrett is married and an operations manager for a company in Las Colinas, while TJ is a single, free spirt and an...
By Ashley Parrott
The Hematology/Oncology (H/O) floor at Cook Children’s is its own world. Bright green walls lead the way among the hustle and bustle of the daily routines of patients, families and doctors. But behind the miracles happening on th...
Physician. Scientist. Researcher.
The role of a pediatric hematologist and oncologist stretches far beyond the walls of Cook Children’s medical center because the physician participates in clinical trials and collaborates with other experts both n...
I'm gonna get a little personal with this one.
And while I typically write about pediatric health issues on this page, I'm going to broaden things to include adult health too right now.
Did you know you could literally save someone's life by sw...
Matthew Grogan’s first day of kindergarten started out like any other child’s. He had a brand new back pack, all the supplies on the list, and was excited to meet his teacher and make new friends! He smiled proudly for his first day of school picture...
Elsa walks through her castle, with her long, blonde locks falling down her back. She sings, “Let It Go.”
And then her parents pick up their little princess. She straightens her long wig and they head to the elevator, back to her room at Cook Chil...
In between medicine in the morning and chemotherapy at night, Adalynn Hawkins laughs and cries. She pesters her sister and giggles with her parents. A family's never been so happy to go through the "Terrible Twos" and watch the joyful life of a toddl...
Micah Ahern isn’t your typical 7 year old who likes superheroes. Micah IS a superhero.
After all, he has the attributes that it takes to make one – he’s courageous, brave, has incredible strength and never gives up. He even has his own logo.
An...
In this world where we are trying to protect our kids from chemicals and preservatives, one thing that is emerging for parents and pediatricians, is a rising tide of parents who are refusing vitamin K supplementation at birth. Often parents ask, “Wha...
Five years ago, Wendy and Jody Gerngross arrived at Cook Children's during Halloween, not exactly in the holiday spirit. After all, they had just learned their then 18-month-old daughter, Jinger Jo, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Octobe...
At 11 years old, Isabel "Izzy" Bonilla has spent a lot of days and nights away from home. Her longest stint, more than 356 days, ends today. After a year of needle pokes, hospital rooms and being prodded by doctors and nurses, Izzy is “breaking free”...
If we had one wish it would be that no child would ever have to fight cancer. That's why we're asking you to join forces with Cook Children's oncologists, researchers, patients and families to help make that wish come true. There's a lot we can do, s...
Tori Pence has loved music since she was 7 years old when her grandfather gifted her with her first guitar. But it wasn’t until she was admitted to Cook Children’s that her passion for music flourished.
In October of 2012, at the age of 16, Tori w...