Connecticut Children's Blog

It started like every other family dinner. Kelly sat around the table with her parents, grandparents, and two older siblings. They each talked about their days. Kelly, who was 10 at the time, mentioned that she felt an odd pain in her left leg. Her parents assumed it was growing pains—both of her older siblings […]

Armani Hernandez’s father, David, was apprehensive in the fall of 2015 when 14-year-old Armani said he wanted to play football at school. “He was a baseball player,” David says, “and I was skeptical about football because it has such a high injury rate.” And sure enough, soon after starting football, Armani complained that his arm […]

Charlotte Wesoloskie is a sweet, soft-spoken girl with a big heart and an even bigger message for children diagnosed with cancer: “Don’t be scared and never give up!” As a cancer survivor, 11-year-old Charlotte speaks from experience and truly “walks the walk.” And, as the inspiration behind a growing fundraising phenomenon known as “PJ Day […]

Gavin David is an ebullient child, always happy, always running, says his mother, Lindsay. “He’s a ball of sunshine,” she says. So Lindsay wasn’t particularly alarmed when Gavin woke up with a bloody nose one morning in March 2017. His mother figured it was just winter in New England and let it go. But the […]

When Genevieve Neiman was 10 years old, her parents had no idea that a routine doctor’s visit would lead to a cancer diagnosis. Or that she would begin her summer vacation the very next day as an inpatient at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. The family was packing for a trip to Florida when they received […]

When Madisen Yanez was almost 2 years old, she told her mother she had a “boo-boo.” Little did her mother know, the “boo-boo” was actually a tumor the size of a grapefruit—engulfing her kidney. “She kept saying she had a ‘boo-boo’ in her belly,” Megan recalled. “She started complaining right before Christmas. We called it […]

It sometimes seems like the biggest problems start with something small. In Morgan Platt’s case, it was an earache. It was the last week of first grade in 2011, and Morgan went to bed with an earache. “I thought it was just that she was worn out,” says her mother, Kathy. “But when she woke […]

In honor of National Siblings Day, meet two special families who are supporting their siblings with Sickle Cell Disease! 

Meet Nike Oyeola–a Connecticut Children’s patient who is working hard to raise awareness about sickle cell disease. People with sickle cell disease have red blood cells that are shaped like crescent moons, rather than round discs. This can cause such problems as infections, pain, anemia and damage to organs. Nike recently created the “Faces of […]

Written by Robert Ffrench, grateful patient My name is Robert K. Ffrench and I am a graduating patient of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. I was originally sent to this medical facility when I had a stroke at the age of 8 years old due to my sickle cell disease, after another hospital (which won’t be […]