A sophomore at Lisbon’s David Anderson High School, Isabella Cornwell plays the flute in the marching band, dances and acts in school plays. She looks like the picture of health, but her appearance belies a debilitating lifelong battle with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). Isabella’s mom, Virginia Barborak, first noticed something was amiss when Isabella was […]
Patient Stories
Healthy Roster App helps athletic trainers manage athletes’ injuries
As a mom of a multi-sport athlete, Amy Hitchcock is no stranger to sports injuries. But what she wasn’t used to was a streamlined approach to communicating her child’s injury and plan of care between herself and his provider, coach, school and athletic trainer – that is, until recently. Hudson Middle School, where her 13-year-old […]
Kent State University student describes how she overcame depression, panic disorder and social anxiety
Melaina Uhrig, age 19, has always been a singer. She enjoyed it so much that she joined her church choir and later, the Summit Choral Society children’s choir program. Being in front of and among people never bothered Melaina until she started high school. That’s when she lost joy in almost everything that previously gave […]
Post-scoliosis surgery, Salem teen ‘courts’ return to the sport she loves
Following a routine tonsillectomy at age 13, Sadie Dennison wasn’t quite herself and her observant mom took notice. “I had some complications that made me lose my appetite,” said Sadie. “I got really bony, and as a result my mom noticed that my shoulders looked crooked.” Sadie’s mom, Michelle, who used to work with […]
Nurturing Families Program helps people make healthy parenting choices
When Crystal Colbert became a first-time mom to her son, Cairo, she had a lot of parenting questions. “I had a best friend who had gone through Akron Children’s Nurturing Families Program, and she spoke very highly of it,” says Crystal. “The Nurturing Families Program, a program of the hospital’s External Affairs department, is a […]
Early diagnosis helps Rory see clearly
Rory Flanagan probably doesn’t remember much about her strabismus surgery when she was just 18 months old, but her mom sure does. In the midst of feeling anxious about the big day, her mom remembers the calm, caring environment they found at the Akron Children’s Outpatient Surgery Center and the expert care Rory received, and […]













