KISS FOR KIDS RADIOTHON

KISS FOR KIDS RADIOTHON

Here’s something you can do that’s going make you feel great. All day – December 9th and 10th KISS-FM is helping out our friends at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital by raising money for the Kids of Central PA. Thank you for the support from our presenting sponsor Moff and Associates

• December 9th and 10th

• 5:30am – 7:00pm both days

• CALL TO PLEDGE HERE (during the time frame listed above): 1-877-322-KISS (5477)

• DONATE ONLINE ANYTIME 24/7 - CLICK HERE

Making Miracles and Healthy Tomorrows at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital

Donations to Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital help provide equipment, programs and services for children treated at the Children’s Hospital as well as Geisinger Pediatric Services throughout the state. It’s so important to become a ‘Miracle Maker’ by donating $20/month. Every dollar raised will stay local to help kids and families just like yours. Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital treats thousands of kids all over Central PA every year! No child is ever turned away regardless of their family’s ability to pay…. That’s why they need your help.

New this year, when you become a Miracle Maker by agreeing to a $20 (or more) recurring monthly gift to Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger, you will receive an introductory keepsake KISS for Kids Radiothon ornament. This special ornament is only available to Miracle Makers, so donate online now and start your collection today to help Change Kids Health and Change the Future for children in our community!

Scroll down to meet our Featured Miracle Kids and their stories!

When Aiden entered the world on New Year’s Day, his lungs needed help. Doctors at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital intubated him and put him in an incubator in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

He needed several blood transfusions and a tracheostomy tube placed in his airway when he was 6 months old. The tube helped him breathe despite the weakened cartilage in his windpipe, a condition called tracheomalacia.

After a 10-month stay between the NICU and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Aiden went home with his family, though he remained on a home ventilator. Since then he has thrived. He’s made enough progress to have his tracheostomy tube removed, and now he loves swimming and playing outside.

Much of the equipment used to help Aiden in the NICU, including ventilators, incubators, bed warmers and infusion pumps, were provided thanks to donations to Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger. The home ventilator program was also started with generous donations.

Born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, Noah needed care right away. He was resuscitated by Geisinger’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, who worked with his parents to make fast decisions about what to do.

A cooling treatment called therapeutic hypothermia would slow down Noah’s metabolic system and allow his brain to rest. Doctors wrapped him in a cooling blanket, lowering his temperature below 93 degrees for 72 hours. Because his lungs were a little underdeveloped, he was placed on a ventilator. Chest tubes helped with fluid that had caused his lungs to collapse.

After two weeks in the NICU, Noah fully recovered and could go home with his parents. Today Noah is a healthy, outgoing, energetic 5-year-old who loves to dance.

Noah benefited from much of the lifesaving equipment in the NICU that was provided with donations to Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger, including ventilators, incubators and bed warmers. The therapeutic hypothermia treatment was also first made possible with those generous donations.

When 9-month-old Koda stopped using her legs and began losing muscle tone, her family and a team of specialists at Geisinger Janet Children’s Hospital started searching for answers. Genetic testing found that Koda had spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, which affects the central nervous system and results in the loss of nerve cells in the spinal cord. It comes from a deficiency of protein in the genes and can be fatal.

Geisinger’s team of pediatric neurologists recommended a type of gene replacement therapy that could save Koda’s life. While they waited for FDA approval of the therapy that could replace the proteins in her genes, spinal injections kept her disease from progressing.

As soon as the medication was approved, the neurology team ordered a dose to be delivered to Koda in Danville. Three weeks before her second birthday, she received the medication that may have saved her life.

Now 4 years old, Koda enjoys arts and crafts, playing with her dolls and watching her big brother play football. Her strength and posture have improved and, she’s strengthening her legs and hips in the hope that she’ll one day be able to walk.

Donations to Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger provided comfort items like recliners and rocking chairs for Koda and her mom during long treatments at the hospital. Generous donations have also provided the Child Life team with toys and other distractions used when she received her treatments.

Like any baby, Laila was a miracle to her parents. And because they learned she was on the way just after adopting their son, she was a special surprise.

During Laila’s 6-month checkup, doctors discovered that the soft spot on her head, the flexible material between her skull bones, had hardened. The condition, called craniosynostosis, can interfere with brain growth.

So, at just 9 months old, Laila had a nine-hour operation with a neurosurgeon and plastic surgeon to reconstruct her skull. After a short stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Laila went home. And now, this 8-year-old has a wonderful personality and a zest for life.

Much of the equipment in the PICU, including ventilators and infusion pumps used during Laila’s recovery, were provided with generous donations to Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger. Her parents could stay by her side thanks to comfort items such as futons and recliners that were provided with donations.

From the heart, thank you so much for caring!

Supporting Sponsor: Moff & Associates - 130 Court St, Suite 205, Williamsport, PA 17701 moffandassociates.com