She gives tips to parents about the importance of checking the volume of their child’s headphones and earbuds. The question for the column: My child wears headphones for school and on long car rides. Can this hurt their hearing? The answer, yes.

We live in a world where children love to watch movies or play games on their electronic devices, but Vaughan warns that prolonged headphone use can be risky.

“What is ‘too loud’ can vary based on a child’s ear size, type of headphones, and length of listening time,” Vaughan said.

With children having control of how loud or soft the volume is in their ear, she says listening at too high a volume can cause permanent hearing damage.

Vaughan explains if you can hear what your child is listening to, the volume is too loud and urges parents to use headphones with volume limits.

In the column, she also teaches parents that headphones are always a better route to go than earbuds, and often the volume has to be louder in earbuds to compensate for the way they fit in a child’s ear.

Lastly, she gives guidance that best practice may be for your child to go without headphones, but to also remember that external speakers can also be a hazard if your child is too close or the volume is too loud.

"I honestly had never thought about it before because there are so few of us, that’s always been my reality," Bowen-Jallow told "Good Morning America." "You’re just used to that."

Dr. Bowen-Jallow attained her undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University and earned a medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch.

"I wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon and then I desired to be a neurosurgeon," Dr. Bowen-Jallow remembered. "Right before I decided to go into pediatric surgery, I wanted to be a plastic surgeon."

She said becoming a pediatric surgeon was an accident, but it was the best accident that could've happened. She also believes it was worth enduring all 17 years of higher education.

"I'd committed to doing plastic surgery and was lining up interviews," she said. "As I signed up for my acting internship (AI), I wanted to do general surgery and was informed there were no more spots available. My only option was pediatric surgery, and within three days I'd changed my career path. I knew pediatric surgery was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

"Working with children is instant gratification," Dr. Bowen-Jallow explained. "If you perform a good operation, perfect your technique and pay attention to detail. Children will recover well."

Kevin Greene, assistant vice president of Cook Children’s - Prosper, recruited Dr. Bowen-Jallow.

"She’s a great surgeon, she comes from great training and she’s really been able to inspire and connect with families," he told GMA. "She's someone who personally wants to provide the best care for every child that steps foot on our campus."

Read the full story here.

“I make sure my patients are served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When they get their trays, I love to see that smile so that’s what I’m there for,” Sandra told the show’s producers for a taped segment that aired during the episode.

Sandra is the lead ambassador in Food and Nutrition Services and logs 30,000 steps a day delivering meals throughout the medical center.

Live on the show, Tamron asked Sandra why she does what she does, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s just natural. I just love to do it. And joy is always in my heart, so I just love it,” Sandra said with a big smile.

Corey was also featured in a segment on the show. He said he finds joy in uplifting Cook Children’s patients and families and shared the story of a little boy who was unable to walk.

“I walked past him one time, and said ‘Hey buddy, how are you doing?’ and he smiled with a big smile and he showed me his muscles, and I said ‘I’m going to show you my muscles,’ and I showed him my muscles and said ‘You stay strong and you keep on getting strong,” Corey explained. “This kid wound up walking three months later in this hospital. That’s what drives me to keep on coming to work.”

All four Cook Children’s employees were part of the virtual audience received gifts from the show as appreciation for their commitment to serving throughout the pandemic.

Miller Queen suffers from a severe and debilitating form of epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome, but you’d never know it by looking at him. At 7 years old, Miller is doing things that never seemed possible like playing soccer and going to school.

“Daily life when you don’t have seizure control is just a rollercoaster,” his mother Chelsea Queen told NBC 5. “You’re kind of always on edge waiting on the next seizure to happen.”

Starting at 6 months old, Miller was having as many as 10 seizures a day. Every treatment he tried failed and his parents were afraid to take their eyes off of him for even a moment.

Then, they found Cook Children’s and M. Scott Perry, M.D.,  an epileptologist and medical director of Neurology and the Genetic Epilepsy Clinic at Cook Children's.

“When you deal with epilepsies that are so difficult to control, it certainly becomes difficult not to feel that there’s not an answer,” Dr. Perry said.

Miller was enrolled in a clinical trial for the drug fenfluramine, which was once used as a popular appetite suppressant. Only a handful of hospitals nationwide were involved in the trial and Cook Children’s happened to be the only one in Texas. The drug completely stopped Miller’s seizures.

“The treatment completely changed his life,” Queen said in the interview with NBC 5. “He’s always been such a happy kid but now he’s able to experience life to the fullest.”

Overall, the clinical trial showed fenfluramine reduced seizures on average by about 70%. The research helped lead to approval from the Federal Drug Administration, opening up fenfluramine as a treatment for everyone with Dravet syndrome.

“The next medication to try and make you seizure-free is probably 2%, but you know what, you might be that 2% so that’s why we keep looking for it,” Perry said.

For Miller’s parents, they know this to be true.

Matt Queen, Miller’s father told NBC 5 “If something doesn’t work, don’t lose hope.”

An early advocate for distraction osteogenesis in the facial skeleton, he helped to develop one of the first multi-planner devices used for lengthening the mandible in children. After a brief surgery, the device is used to slowly lengthen bones that are congenitally too small. Over the course of two weeks, daily adjustments actively stretch the native structures so that new bone and soft tissue can be created as the surgeon works to restore facial balance and harmony.

Dr. Hubli has crisscrossed the globe in the name of craniofacial and cleft care, operating and educating from Brazil to Romania and from Finland to Saudi Arabia. He has been asked to speak on the topics of quality in medicine, craniofacial and cleft care and enhancing patient satisfaction at sites, including Harvard University and the Mayo Clinic. His work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and in Parade Magazine.

But Dr. Hubli is known for more than his skill as a surgeon. It’s the approach to the way he cares for “his kids” that makes him special.

“When I meet new families I like to joke with the moms and dads and tell them, ‘Now, these are my kids too,’” Dr. Hubli said. “I have two wonderful kids of my own. These are my extra kids, my extended family if you will. When I offer advice to parents or make medical or surgical decisions for my patients, I make the same decisions based on what I would do for my own child and trust me … I love my children dearly.”

Dr. Hubli has two children – Alexander, 17, and Sidney, 12, -- and has been married to Joni for 26 years.

It was Dr. Hubli’s brain that Joni says first attracted her to him. No so much his intelligence that would make him a world-class craniofacial surgeon, but his sense of humor.

“He likes to make everybody laugh,” she said. “He’s always been that way. I liked him the first time I met him. He had a great sense of humor. It helps him as a doctor, especially treating children and talking to parents. He has a way of lightening up a situation and that helps them to feel good.”

Dr. Hubli has a unique reason as to why he relates well to his patients – he was once in their shoes. As a child, Dr. Hubli spent many hours in a hospital while he was a youngster in Connecticut. He suffered from complications due to allergy induced asthma.

Things were different back then. Parents were only allowed to visit for a couple of hours a day and there were no parental overnight stays. A week-long stay in a cold-multi-bed pediatric hospital ward left a lasting impression on a 5-year old mind. The facilities were grim, but Dr. Hubli found that the caregivers, the doctor and staff could be rays of sunshine when times were trying. Joni believes that’s what led him into a career as a physician.

And what made him work with kids? More than anything else, Dr. Hubli simply wants to repair a child’s face so he or she can smile. After all, smiles and laughs are so important to the self-professed clown.

Watch him walk down the halls of the medical center and you’ll see him stop and joke with almost anyone he sees, especially the children. Maybe, it’s because he identifies with their sense of humor.

“Pediatrics is a perfect fit for Eric because he can still see the lighter side of life,” Joni said. “Like a kid, he looks to have fun in everything he does and that makes him fun to be around. He has a saying, ‘I have to grow old, but I don’t have to grow up.’ He’s a great doctor and very skilled, but he is not afraid to let his silly side out. We were talking at lunch the other day and he said, ‘Our 12-year old daughter is more grown up than I am.’”

But make no mistake; Dr. Hubli takes his career and the kids he cares for seriously. For him craniofacial and cleft surgery is not just a job, it’s a vocation. Joni will tell you that “he takes his work home. He still studies, he still reviews, he challenges himself to be better every case and we see the distracted dad at home sometimes because he’s thinking about a patient.”

His dedication is energized by the strength of his patients and their families whom he calls “an essay in courage.” Dr. Hubli thought of becoming a priest as a teenager, but felt a stronger calling to becoming a physician. Either way, healing was the goal.

“Would that all of us have the same grace as these kids do! I don’t know if I would,” Dr. Hubli said. “But wow, these kids are cool. If you don’t believe in God, take a look at the kid next to you. It’s a miracle. It’s beyond my comprehension. You can talk to me about DNA and all the wonders of science, but how did these little strands make all of that? I have the degrees. I’ve taken genetics. I’m an educated person. But I say, ‘That it’s still a miracle.’”

Dr. Hubli’s surgical work on children varies. At times, he may be preventing a speech impediment that will stop a lifetime of being made fun or getting bullied. At other times, it’s a matter of performing a surgery that saves a child’s life by giving him or her opportunity to eat or breathe properly.

“Each case is unique because each child is unique. It’s not because of what they look like or why I’m seeing them, but because of who they are,” Dr. Hubli said. “Regardless of the child, the surgical goal is always the same. If I’m successful, their life truly becomes their own to mold and make. Their potential and their future are in their own hands.”

And many times, he’s performing that surgery with Richard Roberts, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Cook Children’s.

“I love working with Eric. We have a great friendship and work well together,” Dr. Roberts said. “The days that we have surgery together are among my most enjoyable. He is a funny guy and great entertainment, but when we step in the operating room it becomes all business. We share a common goal of trying to do the best for the children and we both carry that attitude through surgery until we’re finished.”

So you have two sides of Eric Hubli. The funny guy with hyperactivity issues (his word) … and the other guy, who happens to be a brilliant surgeon.

“I love having fun. In general, I think we all take ourselves too seriously,” Dr. Hubli said. “Don’t get me wrong. This work is not a game and I’m wholly committed to what I do. I work hard and I take my job very seriously. That said, there is healing in humor. I want what’s best for the children I care for, but that’s the thing, they are children and we are a children’s hospital. We should have fun so that our kids, our patients, can have fun even when what we do is some of the most serious and important work that you will ever find.”

This young golfer is actually a patient at Cook Children’s playing in the Annual Bedpan Open, an event where Cook Children’s staff goes all out to make the most creative holes you could imagine (within the constraints of a $100 budget) for children to putt through. At each hole, a PGA golfer is playing caddy for the kids.

Last year’s pros were Tim Herron, Jarrod Lyle and Sam Saunders. The golfers take time out of practice for the Dean & Deluca Invitational to be a part of the Bedpan Open every year. This will be the 27th annual event at Cook Children's.

“What I see is that the people who work here are very passionate about what they are doing and about making sure the kids have a good time while going through some really hard times,” Herron said. “It’s totally cool. Just to get the kids out for a little while with what they are going through and to have a smile on their face, even if it’s briefly, while doing something like this is really genuine and cool. This is some place.”

And while Herron may be in the spotlight as a pro, he said he didn’t mind taking a backseat to the patients during the Bedpan Open.

After all, this is all about the young golfers … and the competition to make the most elaborate and creative hole among staff. Where else could you find a hole with an art theme that has the following:

• The player chooses a giant paint brush and knocks the ball through the paint bucket, tilted on a ramp.
• The ball rolls and falls into paint.
• From there, the golfer chooses his or her color and then putts past the giant crayons (made out of pool noodles) and into more paint.
• Uh oh, she’s knocked the ball into a water hazard, which is actually a small pool with water color. But it’s OK, the ball has been scooped up by a giant spoon that takes the ball into a water color palette.
• The ball rolls past the sand trap, which is rainbow colored of course, around the pair of giant scissors and pencils and then into the mystery tunnel.
• Under the tunnel is different puddles of paint. The ball picks up several different colors of paint as it rolls through the tunnel so the golfer won’t know the color of the ball until it comes out of the tunnel.
• Finally the ball goes into the bedpan, which actually offers different holes for the ball to fall into. Depending on the color hole, the participants will receive a fun prize that sticks to the theme of the hole – pencils, markers, paints …

At the end, the golfers receive another prize. The entire time they’ve been creating art themselves as they roll the paint on a sheet of paper. The paper is scooped up and given to the kids as a souvenir of their experience.

“We are encouraging play and creativeness. That theme really fit our group. All of us love to do this with the kids and we are encouraging them to have fun,” said Diana Gibson, resident artist at Cook Children’s.

Gibson, Jillian Mitchell,Community Program coordintator Erin Reid, a Child Life specialists are all health care professionals who work in the Child Life department, who put as much thought into the child’s well-being as they did in being creative.

“We each work different shifts and days on our team so it took a bit of organization in order to complete all of the aspects of our bed pan hole,” Gibson said. “Our days are filled with supporting patients and their families during their stay here so we had to work on the pieces when we had a spare minute or after work hours were over. All in all, we probably spent about twenty man hours building and creating all of the different sections of our hole. But we’d do it all over again because we are all about these kids!”

Once the design of the hole was finished, the team thought of ways to make sure that everything was wheelchair and IV pole accessible. They made sure that everything would be safe on the outside of the course and within the hole. They glued pieces to the ground so they kids couldn’t roll on top of them and made sure they could get around the corners. Even the tunnel can be lifted up if need be so a child doesn’t have to stress about getting his or her ball out of there.

The course also offers the children an opportunity that sometimes goes missing in a hospital setting – a choice.

“It gives them a chance to get out of their rooms, come down here and be creative with fewer restrictions,” Mitchell said. “They can have that interaction, regardless of whatever else they have going on here. If this is the one thing they did that day or that week that is truly awesome they can use this hole as their happy place.”

Yes, even with the PGA golfers and the employees competing against each other for creating the best hole, this day belongs to the kids.

“When they come down here, they are the celebrities,” Gibson said. “Everyone is there for them. It raises their self-esteem and that sense of awareness of, ‘I’m important and they care about me.’ So I think having that – knowing that all these people made all this for you to come down and play can really help in their healing process – just knowing that people really do care and want them to get better.”

In 2011, she shadowed a social worker in the Emergency Department, and after that day she knew Cook Children’s was the place for her.

“When I was at the medical center I felt so many positive vibes and I just can’t wait to be a part of that and to learn as much as I possibly can,” said Rustin.

Rustin, a licensed baccalaureate social worker, will be part of a brand new team called STAR Kids, the new Cook Children’s Health Plan. STAR Kids is a state level medical program that helps children across Texas. Cook Children’s recently built brand new facilities for their team and is in the process of hiring over 100 new employees.

Before working at Cook Children’s, Rustin worked with a mental health organization in Fort Worth. She hopes to go back to school in the next few years to receive her Master’s Degree in social work. And with Cook Children’s generous tuition reimbursement plan, she sees it as a very attainable goal. After getting her Master's, she hopes to return to Cook Children’s and build her career within the medical center.

- Written by John Davidson

Along with his medical degree, Dr. Pilgrim has completed a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency, followed by pediatric chief residency at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. His fellowship training in pediatric cardiology was completed at Cohen Children’s Medical Center with the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

Impressive indeed, but long before the tedious hours of study and hard work, Dr. Pilgrim’s career path began to take shape at a very young age. See, Dr. Pilgrim grew up with a congenital heart disease patient. His younger sister, Stephanie, was born with congenital heart disease, and she has the scar on her chest to prove it! Congenital heart defects represent the most common birth defect in children and occur in approximately 1 in every 100 children born.

Today, Stephanie is 35 years old, married and has kids, looking much like the patients you would see in the waiting room at Cook Children’s Adult Congenital Heart Disease clinic. In fact, conservative estimates predict that there are nearly 1.3 million adults with congenital heart disease in the United States with about 1 in 150 adults being affected. There are now far more adults than children with congenital heart disease in the US.

It makes perfect sense for Dr. Pilgrim to make this his career focus, right? Well, maybe, for everyone but Dr. Pilgrim. At least, it took him a little while to realize treating ACHD patients was his calling. ““There was a great deal of angst in choosing my career path” he said, chuckling. “I really wanted to be able to apply my internal medicine training to a pediatric subspecialty career path that would allow me to assist in the transition of adolescent and young adult patients to the adult medical arena. I was really drawn to the world of intensive care early on in my residency training, but I loved building long term rapport with the patients and their families in the outpatient setting as well.”

Toward the latter half of his medicine-pediatrics residency, Dr. Pilgrim finally latched on to the idea of pursuing a career in adult congenital cardiology. “Congenital heart disease was fascinating to me in medical school. I was drawn to the complexity and singular nature of each defect and the associated repair. As time progressed, I learned of the growing need for ACHD specialists for a large, vulnerable population with a noted care gap. This field has proven to be the perfect fit for me.”

Once he decided this was the right direction for him, Dr. Pilgrim has never looked back. After all, these are the patients he can identify with like no other. He grew up with one.

“My sister grew up with a scar on her chest. As kids, we called it her “zipper”. We, like many patients today, said, ‘It’s fixed! There’s nothing more to be done’. However, in many cases that is simply not true. Surgery is rarely a cure and most congenital heart defect survivors need lifelong specialized care.”

But Dr. Pilgrim and his colleagues know that many adolescent and young adult patients don’t realize the severity of their heart problems, or at the very least, that they need continued care. Most patients were diagnosed in infancy and don’t remember their surgical repair. Many have dropped out of care for a variety of reasons. “Much of my job revolves around providing education to the patient about their heart disease so that they can develop autonomy and learn to advocate for themselves as they grow older.”

Dr. Pilgrim explains that adults with congenital heart disease remain at risk for long term complications including heart failure, abnormal heart rhythms, pulmonary hypertension and premature cardiovascular death. On top of that, adult onset disease such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes and acquired cardiac disease begin to interplay with their unique physiology. Many ACHD patients will require additional surgical intervention or added medications, even if they had a successful repair as a child. This underscores the need for specialized care. However, fewer than 10% of all adult congenital heart disease patients receive the recommended care in a specialized center.

Congenital heart disease has dramatically changed the landscape of another field in cardiovascular medicine, that of pregnancy and heart disease. Rheumatic heart disease has been replaced by congenital heart disease as the most common heart disease in pregnant women in the US.

“A lot of women show up to the clinic, just like my sister, wanting to become pregnant and wanting to know the risks to themselves or the potential risks to the fetus,” Dr. Pilgrim said. “At Cook Children’s ACHD program, we provide women of child bearing potential with important education regarding birth control options, pre-pregnancy counselling and risk assessment. Women with congenital heart disease who are already pregnant are followed in conjunction with the obstetrician, maternal fetal medicine, fetal cardiology and anesthesia teams with a coordinated delivery plan. We can counsel and treat the woman with the heart problem, while also taking any necessary precautions for the baby after birth.”

But Dr. Pilgrim stresses that there is plenty of optimism for the ACHD patient to live a full life despite their heart disease.

“Too often we find that these individuals become defined by what their disease is rather than who they are as a person” Dr. Pilgrim said. “In some ways their defect may limit some of the things they can do, but it shouldn’t limit their happiness or ability to live a fulfilled life, with the proper treatment. I think that’s the most optimistic message that I can give patients in the community. Through education and proper surveillance in a specialized ACHD center, you can live an active and healthy lifestyle.”

Dr. Pilgrim speaks from the example of how well his sister is thriving as an adult with ACHD. Especially, with the right program, like you will find at Cook Children’s, caring for you.

More about Scott Pilgrim, M.D.

• Dr. Pilgrim spends his free time with his wife and three beautiful children.
• He is particularly involved in musical pursuits, having performed with the 6-time Grammy Award Winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir for 12 years.
• He is also a sports fanatic, enjoying baseball, football, basketball and anything else involving healthy competition.
• Yes he knows about the movies and graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

The ACHD program at Cook Children's

At Cook Children's, we care for the needs of patients with congenital heart disease from the moment they're born, and we stay with them all the way into adulthood. Our Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD),  is one of only a few formal programs nationwide to offer inpatient and outpatient care for teen and adult patients with congenital heart disease, because adulthood, like childhood, should be as simple as possible.

KrisDi Ingermann went to Cook Children’s in 2007 close to death from toxic shock. Once she arrived, an Emergency Room physician almost immediately diagnosed her. Over the next six days KrisDi was unconscious in the Cook Children’s pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

“I have never been so scared in my life,” said Theresa Ingermann, KrisDi’s mother. “She had doctors and nurses at her bedside 24/7 until she was out of the woods.”

As they watch the drama of Rylie play out on national television, the Ingermanns hope their story will help others understand not only the difficulty of recovery, but also the stigma attached with toxic shock.

KrisDi’s symptoms began almost immediately after she used a tampon for only the second time in her life. Later the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the new sports tampon brand she used and interviewed the family in hopes of preventing other users from suffering a similar fate.

KrisDi was embarrassed at the situation. She was even concerned because the CDC would report on her illness and that a record would be kept of what she had gone through as a child. More than eight years after she nearly died, KrisDi fights back tears remembering not only her near-death experience but what she dealt with from her peers who didn’t understand her condition.

“At the time, it really messed me up in high school,” KrisDi said. “The first thing people said after I got it was that I was dirty and that I didn’t take care of myself. There are always mean kids in school and they thought it was because I didn’t change my tampon. They didn’t know why I got it, but that was not the reason.”

Little did those kids know the true story. The family had gone to Lake Whitney near Waco, Texas. Theresa had gone to the grocery store. She wasn’t gone a half hour, but when she returned she found her daughter in horrible shape.

KrisDi’s skin was “beat red” and throwing up. They rushed her to a nearby small clinic. The medical team gave her oxygen but it did little to help. KrisDi had a defibrillator for a heart condition and the pacemaker was working against the medication she was given at the time.

After three hours, the medical team at the clinic called an ambulance to rush her to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. KrisDi remember saying she was going to die. Her mom says when her daughter opened her eyes they were a frightening blood-shot color, as if KrisDi was bleeding from them.

The next six days was a battle for KrisDi’s life.

“It kept getting worse and worse, for a while the medical team didn’t know if she would make it,” Theresa said. “Fortunately, KrisDi doesn’t remember any of it. But for me, it was the worst time in my life. I wish I could forget it. It’s hard to even think about it now.”

On the fifth day everything changed for the better. KrisDi opened her eyes and looked around. By the next day she was out of the ICU. She spent another week at Cook Children’s before getting discharged.

After the harsh reaction she received when she returned home, it was almost a year later before KrisDi told anyone that she had toxic shock because of the stigma involved with the condition. The family eventually moved to Kentucky to put that time behind them.

“KrisDi was always a very outgoing person but she just shut down after she got out of the hospital. She didn’t want to see anybody. She felt shamed because of it,” Theresa said. “She received counseling for help. But kids that age are going to talk. It wasn’t the truth the things they said about her. It was horrible. I don’t think people understand she had done everything right and we still almost lost her.”

Today, KrisDi is doing well and is the mom of a 7-month old daughter named Vera. KrisDi suffers from migraines and muscle aches, but she’s not sure if it’s related to toxic shock.

“I hope that more studies are done on toxic shock and I also hope that people take time to learn more about it,” KrisDi said. “I have good hygiene. I did as a young girl too. I had done my research when I had my first period and did everything I was supposed to do. I want people to know that it can happen and I want girls like Rylie to know that it’s not something she should feel guilty about or embarrassed by it. I was embarrassed for a long time because people thought I was dirty.

But I wasn’t dirty and I’m not embarrassed anymore.”

“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.”

Psalm 126:5

As a young married couple, D.L. and Katie Frugé prayed that their family would be “different” in their examples as Christians.

But they say they never could have imagined the journey that God had for them, following the birth of their two daughters – Eve Catherine and Felicity Leigh.

Eve was born Sept. 18, 2011. Her parents call her a miracle baby after surviving a rupture of the amniotic sac, which happened when she was at only 6 weeks gestation.

“While her life was graciously spared, her body was badly injured,” her parents wrote in their blog shortly after her birth.

While still in the womb and the size of an adult’s pinky finger, Eve lost her right leg and left arm. She was born with only one badly clubbed left leg and bands inside the placenta removed two fingers from her right hand.

Eve continues the determination she brought with her just to survive into her world today as a spunky 5 year old. She’s a Disney kid and loves her visit to the parks. She's such a regular that she says that Ariel from the Little Mermaid recognized her during hte family's most recent trip.

She can draw with her toes or dress her princess dolls with her hand and foot.

At 3 days old, Eve went to Cook Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit because of concern her bilirubin levels were too high. Eve stayed only two days before going home with a hand-stitched Build-A-Bear.

Falls were to be an expected part of Eve’s life due to her learning to walk on a prosthetic leg and she visited Cook Children’s Emergency Department in March 2014, where she received stitches.

“Cook Children’s is absolutely the best when it comes to taking care of kids,” her mom wrote at the time. “They sent in someone who helped keep her distracted by playing games on an iPad, and then quickly sowed her chin up!”

When Felicity was born on Jan. 28, 2014, she had extensive brain damage as a result of being infected with Cytomegalovirus (CMV) at less than 18 weeks in utero. Hours after her birth, the Cook Children’s Teddy Bear Transport team took Felicity to the NICU where help was waiting. An MRI showed significant scarring on her brain that would mean her mental age as an adult would be 6 to 9 years old.

Felicity has surprised everyone by how well she’s doing. At a checkup in October, it was discovered that she has mild to moderate hearing loss that can be completely correctable with hearing aids.

Today, both Eve and Felicity are in therapy twice a week at Cook Children’s Rehab Facility in Fort Worth, Texas.

Last year, Eve participated in the “Tri My Best Triathlon,” led by the Rehab team.

But Eve’s not finished showing off just yet. She was featured in a commercial with adult amputees that was filmed as part of a campaign to choose a Doritos commercial for the Super Bowl.

Her dad said this isn’t much of a surprise for his daughter to have a knack for being in front of a camera.

“She always like to play and use her imagination,” D.L. said. “She loves to pretend to be a princess and reenact the movies she watches. She likes to make films on her phone.”

But Eve doesn’t need to pretend to be anyone else. The true story of Eve and Felicity is already amazing enough.

In October of 2012, at the age of 16, Tori was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma stage four cancer in her left pelvic bone. From the beginning of her journey with cancer, the Mansfield, Texas native decided that her only option was to keep moving forward. Amidst the confusion of being diagnosed with cancer and admitted to Cook Children’s as a teenager, Tori found comfort when her father told her about the newly opened Child Life Zone Music and Recording Studio.

“If I had to be anywhere, I’m glad it was here. They do a really good job at trying to make a children’s hospital more accommodating to young adults. It’s awkward being in the middle of a child and a young adult but Cook Children’s made me feel like I didn’t have to sit in my room and go through this journey by myself.”

Tori received chemotherapy and received medication for her treatment every other week, 3 to 5 days for the span of about a year. Halfway through her treatment, she also received radiation on her left pelvic bone for about two months.

Karen Albritton, M.D., a Cook Children’s pediatric hematology-oncology doctor and medical director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Program, oversaw Tori’s cancer treatment. Artee Gandhi, M.D., medical director of Pain Management, helped Tori with any discomfort or pain she felt during her treatment.

As her time continued at Cook Children’s, Tori spent many hours in the Child Life Zone Music and Recording Studio, pursuing her passion for music. “The music studio is great, even for kids that don’t have life threatening illnesses, it’s just a good way to go in there and have fun.”

Tori recently turned 19 years old and has been in remission for two years. “My life is all about music. It has always been something that has gotten me through the good times and bad.” She continues to pursue her passion for music by performing for various charities. Tori has even gotten the incredible opportunity to meet some of her favorite artists, including Joan Jett, Miley Cyrus, Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, and Garth Brooks. She hopes to one day meet Stevie Nicks.

Through her battle with cancer, Tori learned the importance of living each day to the fullest. “I encourage people to keep moving forward and live your life the way you want it, because you don’t have all the time in the world. Don’t wait to do something you want to do, make it happen.”

About #erasekidcancer

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, so let's spread the word to help make childhood cancer disappear.

The funds we raise together will support life-saving research, treatments, technology and programs for the young patients and their families at Cook Children's in Fort Worth, Texas. What we do today will help #erasekidcancer for future generations.

Now she prays for Tre’s caregivers to make her son all better.

Tre, who is 9 years old, has been seen by the Rehabilitation Services team at Cook Children’s since his parents adopted him as an infant. Most of those issues centered on his articulation skills. Tre’s history with Rehabilitation Services started with audiology and other physician specialists; speech therapy services began at 7 years old working on articulation skills. 

Then about 15 months ago, Sara Adams, Tre’s speech pathologist, received a call from Jennifer to say her work with him would have to go on hold indefinitely.

Tre was involved in a horrible boating accident. He sustained a head injury and was in a coma at another hospital. But the miracle for the Faulkner family occurred and within two weeks, Tre was up and walking.

After his accident, Tre returned to therapy at Cook Children's Urgent Care and Pediatric Specialties – Mansfield and worked with Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy to regain skills that were lost after his brain injury.

A year later, much of Tre’s care takes place at the Cook Children’s Rehabilitation Services at Mansfield. The focus is on Tre’s short-term memory loss and his severe ADHD, as a result of the injury.

“God has blessed us so much,” Jennifer said. “The Mansfield community has been with us since the beginning, I’m so thankful. I’m also thankful for the amazing care Tre has received since his injury. At Mansfield, Tre has really been helped in many ways, through his physical, occupational and speech therapy. They have helped him so much with his memory and his balance. It’s truly been miraculous.”

The rehab at Mansfield is working for Tre. Academically, Tre’s test scores are in the average range for a child his age. His mom says he’s learning and making strides every day.

And Tre’s doing very well physically. He recently received his gold belt in karate. Makes sense for a kid who has proven time and time again how tough he is.

“The progress Tre has made since his accident is truly remarkable,” Adams said. “Tre still has some struggles with his attention and memory that impact him every day. However, he continues to improve and learn how to work through these struggles. Tre’s sense of humor, determination, and supportive family are his greatest strengths. Tre is such a funny kid! He loves to tell jokes and riddles. One of his favorite jokes is: ‘Why don’t ducks tell jokes when they are flying? … They might quack up!’”

To see how far Tre’s come since his injury it’s hard not to smile at the miracle that’s occurred and the occasional duck joke.

For more information

At Cook Children's, we provide more than 60 pediatric medical and specialty clinic offices throughout Texas. Thanks to our skilled group of clinicians who support the leading-edge technology found among our specialty services, Cook Children's is the destination when it comes to taking care of your children.

Cook Children's Urgent Care and Pediatric Specialties - Mansfield is located at:

801 Matlock Road

Mansfield, TX - 76063

To make an appointment, call 817-347-8400.

Specialty services at Mansfield inlcude:

• Endocrinology and diabetes
• Gastroenterology and nutrition
• Nephrology and dialysis
• Neurosciences
• Orthopedics
• Pediatric surgery (inpatient/outpatient)
• Psychiatry and psychology
• Rehabilitation
• Urgent care

Who were they kidding? There's no emotional prepping anyone could do at that time. So, off to the OR for delivery we went. Talk about scared! They gave my baby a 10 percent chance of survival and they gave me a death sentence if they didn't deliver right then and there.

Graysen was brought into this world three months early weighing 1.4 pounds and not crying, or breathing. I remember seeing that he was the size of the nurse’s hand when she was working on him. I got to take one look at him before they had to intubate him immediately to get him breathing, since he was turning blue.

They then hurried away with him to the delivering hospital’s NICU. He was supposed to be born on March 15th (spring break baby) and he came into this world right before Christmas. With only a diaper the size of a tiny flip cell phone (which was the phone we had 10 years ago!), and under a heat lamp for warmth, inch by inch, ounce by ounce, he grew.

Weeks into life, the doctors decided to start feeding him by NG tube (Nasogastric tube that runs through the nose and into the stomach for feeds).

He did fine tolerating the feeds until he got an infection in the intestines, called necrotizing enterocolitis, also known as Nec. This made his belly swell up and, if not cured properly, could have resulted in a hole in the intestines, which is fatal. Surviving Nec was thought to be low. The doctors called to inform me that he was not doing so well and needed to be transferred by Teddy Bear Transport to the Medical Center’s NICU.

They loaded him up and took him by ambulance after two months in the NICU where he was born to begin his next few months of growing. Cook Children’s slowly nursed him back to better health, and, luckily, Graysen did not need surgery on his intestines. Miraculously, he pulled through another obstacle.

Weeks went by before they attempted to feed him again. In the meantime, the doctors had a central line surgically put into his chest so he could receive his nutrients properly. After a few weeks of feeds, the doctors started to see major improvement. They took him off the respirator and put him on a high flow nasal cannula to help with Graysen’s oxygenation and breathing. He did great with this new machine. Now breathing well, it was time to introduce the bottle at around 3 months. He took it, but not all of it.

The doctors had to decide what to do about the feeds he was leaving behind. They decided to put a G-button surgically into his stomach so that the left over feeds could be received by tube. This was the turning point. The hardest decision I had to make. Once that G-button was placed, I would have a medically dependent child.

After being in the NICU for five months, this was the only way he would be able to come home, and I was ready for that day. I gave the doctors the approval, and off to his first surgery he went. That was the first of 14 surgeries he would have throughout his first 10 years of life. Surgeries followed including fundoplication (an operation to prevent stomach contents from returning to the esophagus), hernia repairs, tonsillectomy, and a tethered spinal cord repair. Just to name a few. His spinal cord was taut at the end and neurosurgery was scheduled at 12 months. He caught meningitis after the surgery and, once again, beat dangerous odds.

Graysen went through so much that he didn’t eat. For six years, he was completely tube fed. He went through many years of intensive feeding therapy. He still didn’t want to eat orally. I put him in kindergarten and he saw his peers eating by mouth. That sparked an interest and, at 6 years old, he started eating. Now he demolishes whole cheeseburgers and fries! Not only has he beat death numerous times, he's gone through 14 surgeries and countless doctor appointments getting him to where he is now. This kid is here for a reason. This month we celebrate Graysen's 10th year of LIVING! Graysen is my Christmas miracle.

I could not have done this alone. I am so thankful that I had, and still have, a great network of people working together at Cook Children’s. Without their dedication to their job and to children, I don’t know if Graysen would have made it. Dr. Nancy Dambro was one of his main doctors from the time Graysen was born. Dr. Michael Deitchman has been his pediatrician through all the rollercoaster ups and downs. I can’t thank him enough for his support, countless visits and patience with us. We also see Dr. Jose Iglesias, Dr. Jill Radack, Dr. Bankole Osuntokun and Dr. Fernando Acosta.

It takes a village in Graysen’s case, and I’m glad our village is Cook Children’s!

Photo credit: Kelly Gavin, Texas Rangers.

Once there, she was told they had to get the baby out immediately. Amanda was prepped for surgery and within 40 minutes Braelynn was born. Braelynn weighed 13 ounces at birth - the size of a can of soda. At the hospital in Abilene, Braelynn needed a special type of ventilator to help her survive and they did not have it at the hospital.

She was transported by Cook Children's Teddy Bear Transport to Cook Children's 8 hours after her birth.At a week old, Braelynn was diagnosed with bilateral grade inter-ventricular hemorrhage which is the most severe form of brain bleeds. Braelynn has had her right lung collapse twice.  

Braelynn is a big girl and has made immense progress against the odds. She's talking, walking, running and counting to 13. Braelynn turned 3 on Aug. 30, 2014 and now weighs 27 pounds. We met Braelynn as a baby and this is her story. 

Avery's Journey:

• Avery's story - part 1
• Avery's story - part 2
• Avery's story - part 3
• Avery's story - part 4
• Avery's story - part 5
• Avery's journey - part 6
• Avery's journey - part 7