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Patient Stories

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At Children’s National Hospital, we provide compassionate, professional care to thousands of patients every year. Our patients come from all over the United States and from more than 20 countries around the world. They have many different conditions and experience unique paths on their treatment journeys – but through it all they experience the same level of warm, family-centered care. Discover our patients' stories to understand their journey and see how it may relate to your own.

Bella claps her hands while wearing pink eyeglasses and a red hair bow
Bella's Story Epilepsy and Seizure

Bella's Story Epilepsy and Seizure

In the first weeks of life, Bella underwent a series of procedures that her doctors and family agreed were necessary to end constant seizures from hemimegalencephaly (HME), a rare brain disorder in which one half of the brain grows abnormal and large and misbehaves by triggering repeated difficult seizures.

Baby boy Trace sitting on a chair wearing a blue outfit
Trace's Story Epilepsy and Seizure
Baby boy Trace sitting on a chair wearing a blue outfit

Trace's Story Epilepsy and Seizure

When Trace was born in 2021, he had HME and seizures that evolved into infantile spasms before his second month of life, a type of seizure that causes serious neurodevelopmental delays.

noah sweek teaser img
Noah's Story Airway & Lungs
noah

Noah's Story Airway & Lungs

After Joshua and Sandra Sweek noticed that their 6-month-old son, Noah, was having breathing problems, they took him to the doctor. There, the baby was diagnosed with suspected asthma.

Ryan Alam, a teen fighting a rare neurodegenerative disease, tandem skydives with SFC Chris Acevedo of the U.S. Army Parachute Team. Photo courtesy U.S. Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights.
Ryan A's Story
Ryan Alam, a teen fighting a rare neurodegenerative disease, tandem skydives with SFC Chris Acevedo of the U.S. Army Parachute Team. Photo courtesy U.S. Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights.

Ryan A's Story

Ryan has neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation, or NBIA. Of the different types of NBIA, he has mitochondrial-membrane protein-associated neurodegeneration, or MPAN, a disease in which a surplus of iron accumulates in the brain and causes it to deteriorate. Tuba Alam, Ryan’s mom, says that despite his condition, his goal in life is to help others like him find a cure so that they can live a full life.

side by side photo Kaylee Townsley Roxi Vasquez
Kaylee and Roxi's Story Kidney Conditions

Kaylee and Roxi's Story Kidney Conditions

Kaylee Townsley, a seventh-grader, is 12. Roxi Vasquez, a high school senior, is 18. They live in different towns and attend different schools but became "sisters" as they shared the same kidney transplant experience.

Maddox's family
Maddox's Story Neurofibromatosis
Maddox's family

Maddox's Story Neurofibromatosis

Zhen Chao, now called Maddox, was born in China with a genetic condition called neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) that can cause painful or disfiguring tumors called plexiform neurofibromas. Read about Maddox.

Gabriella Nelson
Gabriella's Story Nephrotic Syndrome
Gabriella Nelson

Gabriella's Story Nephrotic Syndrome

Gabriella was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, which meant her kidneys were leaking protein.

Sadie leans over pastel-colored blanket
Sadie's Story Newborn Neurologic Disorders

Sadie's Story Newborn Neurologic Disorders

Sadie is one of hundreds of infants with acute encephalopathy who have received whole-body therapeutic hypothermia at the Children's National neonatal intensive care unit. Whole-body therapeutic hypothermia is offered in the first few hours of life to preserve brain cells and to stave off disability or death.

Amarie on a park swing
Amarie's Story Premature Infant

Amarie's Story Premature Infant

Amarie, an infant born prematurely, is enrolled in a Children’s research study that seeks to understand how preterm birth affects the cerebellum.

Heath Alexander and his daughter Anna, who he donated a kidney to.
Anna's Story
Heath Alexander and his daughter Anna, who he donated a kidney to.

Anna's Story

Heath Alexander of Silver Spring, Maryland, underwent a rigorous assessment to determine whether he was healthy enough to donate one of his kidneys to his daughter, 11-year-old Anna Sophia Alexander.

little girl on hospital bed eating pancakes
Stella's Story Anorectal Malformations or Imperforate Anus

Stella's Story Anorectal Malformations or Imperforate Anus

When she and her twin sister were born in 2019, Stella was diagnosed with an anorectal malformation. Her surgeon in Greece recommended that the family see international expert Marc Levitt, M.D., and his team for the surgery, due to his vast experience in repairing challenging cases like Stella’s.

gabriella cheerleading
Gabriella's Story Scoliosis

Gabriella's Story Scoliosis

For Gabriella, scoliosis surgery changed her life — in more ways than she expected. Read Gabriella's Story.