Story by Sydney Hanes. Video by Tom Riehm.In April, patient Kaydence Mixon who was diagnosed with leukemia rang the end-of-treatment bell at Cook Children’s Medical Center surrounded by her family, friends and care team. Following a heartfelt speech ...
By Ashley AntleLarger than life-size digital displays, storybook murals, walking paths that invite exploration and play, and spaces bathed in every color of the rainbow — it’s what childhood daydreams and imaginations are made of. These are also a fe...
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...
By Heather DugeJoann Sanders, M.D., chief quality officer, and Matthew Carroll, M.D., associate chief quality officer, credit Cook Children’s employees with top rankings in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospital list for 2022-2023. C...
After battling fevers for three months, Isabel and Ignacio Rodriguez took their son Matt to his local pediatrician. His physician took blood work and consulted with Cook Children’s oncologist Kenneth Heym, M.D.
“His pediatrician said he didn’t loo...
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 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...
Most of us know someone who has had cancer. That’s because we are all at risk for developing the disease. Usually it’s by chance. But in some cases, cancer develops because of our genetics and that means some of us are predisposed to developing diffe...
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...
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...
Cook Children’s is one step closer to launching a Targeted Therapeutics Program, opening the door to the most advanced and promising clinical trials available to pediatric cancer patients. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation has awarded a $60,151 infrastru...
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...
Josh and Ashley were just hours away from boarding an airplane for what should have been one of the most memorable trips of their lives.
Spending Thanksgiving week in Illinois, surrounded by Ashley’s family, Josh knew this would be his chance to a...
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...