Local Stories
Conner’s story
Today we sat smiling and feeling grateful as we watched our son, Conner, ride off on his two-wheel bike with his friends. We couldn’t help but think of the chilly November morning when he was airlifted to a medical oasis 
called "Children’s Hospital" and how he was saved from a life-threatening case of Kawasaki Syndrome. The incredible staff at Children’s will always hold a treasured place in our hearts.
Kent and Sue
Grateful parents
Children’s hospital provides a unique environment where the focus is on providing outstanding care for the children in a pleasant and enjoyable setting. We are fortunate to have such quality care within our region for our daughter’s epilepsy.
Wes and Christy
Others helped by Children’s
Carolyn Shoenbaum is one of a kind
The Shoenbaums were living in Connnecticut when Carolyn’s symptoms first appeared. She complained of neck pains, her parents, Gary and Kathy, explained. Tests showed some spinal abnormalities, but they didn’t look serious and Carolyn, then 11, was prescribed physical therapy and told to go ahead and live a normal life, which for her included soccer, soccer and more soccer. In fact, she had been accepted into the Connecticut Soccer Olympic Development Program pool, with hopes of making the U.S.A. team.
That was not to be however. About two years later, in 1998, the Shoenbaums moved to Mercer Island (Washington). Carolyn’s pain persisted and her head was always tilted to one side. Family friends told Gary and Kathy about Children’s. They scheduled an appointment with the neurosurgery clinic.
Doctors here suspected that Carolyn’s problem was more than muscular or neurological and referred her to Children’s Craniofacial Center right away.
Carolyn was found to have a remarkable group of anomalies. There were problems in the organization of her spine. There was fluid under pressure in the spinal cord. The left jawbone was not aligned. She was missing some facial bones and, as she grew, her face began taking on a pronounced asymmetry.
But the most serious problem was that she had two huge holes in the base of her skull. One of the holes allowed the top of her jaw to be inside her skull. Every time she ate, Kathy said, "her jaw bone moved against her brain." In addition a portion of her brain was literally sinking down onto her spinal column, compressing blood vessels and nerves.
No one here--or anywhere else, for that matter--had every seen anyone like Carolyn. She was one of a kind.
Doctors told Carolyn that she would have to stop playing soccer. One good jolt to the head and she could be paralyzed. Or worse.
Carolyn would undergo three major surgeries in as many years to stabilize her spine, decompress the brain stem, repair the holes in her skull and lift her brain back into place, refashion the malformed jaw and realign it with the other one, and make new bones for her cheek.
After the surgeries, Carolynn was different, Kathy noted, but it wasn’t just that her jaws lined up or that she had a new cheekbone. The absence of pain gave her face a peaceful look.
No one knows exactly what caused the extremely rare abnormalities in Carolyns skull and spine. But because of the Craniofacial Center at Children’s, the 16-year-old is back in school--a straight-A student--and playing soccer again.
Kathy Schoenbaum put it this way: "Children’s is just the best thing that ever happened to us."
Traveling care
In addition to the services provided at Children's Hospital in Seattle, Children’s also sends physicians and other clinical specialists to communities throughout the Pacific Northwest to treat patients in their hometowns and teach local health care providers. For stories of children helped throughout the region, see http://www.seattlechildrens.org/clinics-programs/
