Connecticut Children's Blog

When Melina, at age 10, felt a shooting pain in her leg and suddenly couldn’t put weight on it, her family assumed it would mean physical therapy at worst. They never imagined it would mean emergency surgery so she could play sports, dance, or possibly just walk normally again. They started at the pediatrician’s office. […]

The Quintero family of Manchester, Connecticut is breathing much easier these days after the Building for Health program fixed hazards in their home and provided support for their daughter’s worsening asthma symptoms. Building for Health: The Quintero Family’s Experience The Quintero family connected to Building for Health through the State of Connecticut’s Putting on AIRS […]

One bright October weekend, 9-year-old Ellie McOmber was flying high on a friend’s swing set. The next minute, she was falling. She fell from a height of about seven feet and landed on her side, fracturing her arm just below the shoulder…   Walk-in orthopedic care when they need it, where you need it. For […]

Technology that enables a devastating sports injury to heal itself? At Connecticut Children’s, it’s no longer beyond imagination. Connecticut Children’s recently became the first health system in Connecticut to use the BEAR® Implant to treat a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), one of the most common sports injuries in the U.S.  The implant is injected […]

Ashley Burkman and her husband, Matt Chella, were thrilled to welcome their twin sons Calvin and Carter into the world in May 2019. The pregnancy had been a healthy one for Ashley with no signs of anything abnormal for the babies. However, shortly after the boys’ birth at 38 weeks, doctors became concerned about Carter’s health. “Carter […]

Milagros knew in her heart that her daughter was sick. But for a long time, no one else seemed to believe her. Jazz, age 3, had been plagued with mysterious symptoms for months. She’d been spitting up for no reason, and waking with bad headaches. Milagros brought her to doctors all over Massachusetts, but no […]

When you are a child growing up with hearing loss, or the parent of a child who’s diagnosed with a hearing condition, you likely have lots of questions. What challenges will we face? Where can we find advice? Who else will understand? Annabelle Jacobs, age 17, has made it her mission to answer these questions. […]

In the third trimester of pregnancy, Hattie and Donnie Donner went to one last ultrasound to check on Hattie’s thyroid levels. Her levels were fine, but something else wasn’t. The ultrasound picked up on two bubbles in the baby’s small intestines. Their baby boy had a rare, life-threatening condition called duodenal atresia. Just like that, […]

To solve a life-threatening heart defect, Ellis Schwartz-Mosca’s care team at Connecticut Children’s had to think big – by thinking small. On Oct. 27, Connecticut Children’s pediatric cardiac surgeons successfully implanted the world’s tiniest mechanical heart valve into Ellis’ heart. He was just 2 months old, and weighed only 7 pounds 9 ounces. Until recently, […]

A week after baby Kikiolaoluwa was born, her doctors in Nigeria found a hole in her heart. At first, they told Kiki’s parents – mom Moninuola and dad Oladapo – to wait and see if the hole closed on its own. But several months later, everything was worse. Kiki was losing weight. She was often […]