Arden was born prematurely at 32 weeks, becoming extremely ill at just 6 weeks old. Doctors in the UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit discovered that her heart had grown to take up 75 percent of her chest cavity and was crushing her lungs.
Just by looking at her, you would never know that McKenna was diagnosed — while still in utero — with multiple complex congenital heart defects.
Fourteen years ago, Parker Fox couldn’t leave his home much of the time. He had numerous ear infections and several cases of pneumonia that kept him indoors.
When the 2-year-old Elyse didn’t get better after a virus, her pediatrician ordered routine blood work that showed that she was severely anemic.
Kirstyn was all smiles on her 12th birthday as she opened presents and ate cupcakes decorated like emojis. Life hasn’t always been smiles and happy emoticons for this brave girl.
At 13 years old, Micha Wright became an unconventional jeweler. Her route to entrepreneurism and philanthropy began in 2000, when Micha was born three months early.
Kaedyn's health struggles haven't stopped him on the baseball field.
Nick Mullen was just 2 years old when he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, making it harder for the heart to pump blood and causing abnormal heart rhythms.
Born at only 26 weeks and weighing a tiny 1 pound and 4 ounces, Alyssa started fighting for her life right after her birth in the neonatal intensive care unit at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital.
When he was 38 years old, Doug Kirk remembers how things like brushing his teeth or raising his left arm became difficult. He wasn’t able to sleep. Even sitting for extended periods of time proved painful. But this summer, he and his wife Sheila will cycle for more than 450 miles along the scenic southern hills of Iowa.
