Although she was recently named Akron Children’s Magnet Nurse of the Year for exemplifying excellence in professional practice, Fran Feesler, MSN, APRN, FNP, an advanced practice provider (APP) in the Heart Center, didn’t initially plan to become a nurse. “I have a degree in elementary education, but in the early ‘90s teaching jobs were scarce,” […]
Surgery for blocked tear duct leads to congenital heart defect diagnosis
New parents Cassie and Michael Amick spent the better part of 2020 looking forward to the birth of their first child, a boy, due in late February. Ashton Michael Amick made his entrance into the world on Feb. 3—3 weeks before his due date. “Besides being a little jaundiced for a day, he appeared […]
Surgery to repair leaky valve mends 4-year-old’s “broken” heart
Addisyn Piekarski and her mom, Kristen, had just the right outfit in mind for Addisyn’s Jan. 13 follow-up appointment with her heart surgeon, Dr. Robert Stewart. Sporting a shirt covered in small hearts, with a large, sequin heart in the center, seemed fitting to meet with the man who just 8 days earlier had repaired […]
The friendship of these ‘butterfly sisters’ took flight after a chance meeting in the kindergarten line
If 1 in 2,000 girls are born with Turner Syndrome, the odds of two little girls with Turner Syndrome meeting each other in line at their kindergarten orientation must be, well, too serendipitous for even the oddsmakers. Four years later, Marlie Workman and Madison Pritt are third graders, BFFs and self-described “butterfly sisters” navigating life […]
Children’s Champion spotlight: Chelsea Farmer
Chelsea Farmer has participated in the Akron Children’s Hospital Akron Marathon Race Series before, but this year her reason for signing up was a little more personal. “In November our daughter Nora got a little bit sick and her pediatrician discovered a heart murmur,” Chelsea said. “We took her to see a cardiologist at Akron Children’s […]
Cardiologists team up to give boy new heart, second chance at life
In retrospect it all happened so fast. Linda and Ryan Amstutz watched in disbelief as their 3-year-old son, Colton, went from his normal, happy life of perpetual motion to his admission to pediatric intensive care, where doctors told them his young heart was failing and he might need to be put on the list for […]
