Meet Patients and Providers

Dr. Adré du Plessis is on a quest to help babies get the best possible start in life. The key to success: diagnosis and care at the earliest stage before they are born.

LaShundra Collins Young is a speech-language pathologist with a knack for helping children express what she calls their hearts’ desires.

Matt was 10 when he came to our emergency department in life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis. Dr. Fran Cogen helped his family cope and enabled Matt to get back to the business of being a kid again.

Art therapy gives Wes and his family a break from his leukemia treatments.

Paris forfeited her spot on the Columbia University track team and stopped going out in public. Her gastrointestinal illness worsened as she and her family searched for a diagnosis. Then, Paris met Dr. Marc Levitt, Chief of our Division of Colorectal & Pelvic Reconstruction. At her first appointment, he offered a lifechanging solution.

Dr. Marc Levitt, our Chief of Colorectal & Pelvic Reconstruction, helped Nina's daughter, Paris, get her life back. That care also helped heal their entire family. 

Caoilinn, 20, loves to play soccer and beach volleyball, but a leukemia diagnosis sidelined her as a teen. A dedicated team at Children’s National Hospital and advanced T-cell therapy is helping her get back to the activities she loves.

Cannon had surgery at our Heart Institute when he was four days old. Now he laughs, coos, cries and does all the things a healthy baby should.

When three-day old Bear arrived at Children’s National with seizures, staff in our nationally ranked #1 newborn program cared for a family in crisis. Baby Bear was soon alert and breathing on his own. Today, he loves to run on the beach with his siblings.

Egypt Middleton is a Children’s National school nurse in Washington, DC. Some of her students experience abuse at home or have parents in jail. Others lack food and clean clothes. These kids often lash out. Egypt works with our care providers and coordinates school resources to find the care these children need and deserve.

Newborn Owen arrived at Children’s National Hospital lethargic and unresponsive. He had Cytomegalovirus, which resulted in a potentially-fatal infection that can cause hearing loss in infants. 

Kasey’s late daughter Cari had severe asthma. Care at our hospital helped Cari get out and live life to the fullest before she passed away in 2016. She was 17. During the pandemic, Cari’s mother and sister made cloth masks to help keep families safe when visiting the children they love at the hospital.

When Reuben, an active teenager, experienced four concussions within the span of two years, our Safe Concussion Outcome Recovery & Education (SCORE) Program safeguarded his health and empowered him to make the best choices when it came to his studies — and sports.

A social worker with a focus on endocrinology, Jennifer helps children with diabetes get free care, free medicine and diabetes supplies.

Grayson was born at 24 weeks. In his parent’s truck. During a blizzard. Our transport team partnered with regional officials and medical teams to bring Grayson to our NICU. His diagnosis was bleak. “Thanks to Children’s National, my little miracle baby made it through,” Grayson’s mom says.