If you have to go to the hospital, it helps to know that other kids have been through it. The following examples will help you know what to expect at Medical City Children’s Hospital. They show how our doctors, nurses, Child Life Specialists and other staff members work together to make you feel more comfortable—and help you get back to health.

Cameron
When Cameron came to Medical City Children’s Hospital, he had a very aggressive form of blood cancer, or leukemia. Today, he’s cancer free and living an ordinary boy’s life.

Dr. Carl Lenarsky, the director of the team that treats children with cancers and blood diseases, explains that Medical City Children’s Hospital took care of Cameron with a combination of “aggressive chemotherapy” and a “a stem cell transplant.” Although no one in his family could donate, “we searched the world and found” someone who was a good match for Cameron.

Cameron’s mom, Sandy, is a nurse. She says that the care Cameron received was “excellent. I couldn't ask for better nurses. They gave me room to do what I needed to do to make me feel like I was still caring for Cameron. And yet they also did what they needed to do to care for him.”

Dr. Lenarsky offers the story’s happy ending. Four years after his transplant, Cameron “has no signs of disease and now he's a normal little boy back in school. I think that one patient summarizes my feelings about Medical City Children's Hospital: We have been able to deliver excellent care in a loving and compassionate environment. But we can also give a level of sophisticated care that is not always available in every institution.”

Sarah
When she was five years old, Sarah came to Medical City Children’s Hospital with a fever, and her parents didn’t know why she had it. Less than six hours after she arrived, the doctors determined that she had been born with a problem in her immune system. Sarah’s body can’t properly control its temperature, she’s allergic to fire ants, and she had mild asthma.

Right away, she had emergency sinus surgery and that took care of the immediate danger. But then she had to start treatments with a doctor who specializes in helping kids with allergies and immune system conditions. For a year and a half, she received injections of a medicine that helped prevent her from getting sick again.

Now, she’s done with the shots and her mom says, “You no longer look at her and can tell that she is sick. She looks like a typical healthy kid, and she acts like one. Since she is older and is learning her limitations, she is really able to have a normal life and realizes that there are very few things she can’t do.”

Sarah’s mom says that everyone at Medical City Children’s Hospital does a really good job of listening to kids and their parents. That’s why she says, “Medical City Children’s Hospital is the only place we trust to care for our children. In the worst possible time of my daughter’s life, we trusted them and never regretted it.”