Caring for young cystic fibrosis patients

A worldwide leader in research and development of cystic fibrosis (CF) therapies, the Univeristy of Minnesota Cystic Fibrosis Center has established outcomes for CF patients well above the national averages.  Tara and Shane selected the center for treatment for their daughter Ella who tested positive for cystic fibrosis during her newborn screening.   Read more...

Chasing breakthroughs and making a difference

Groundbreaking, life saving breakthroughs in medicine are the hallmark of University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview.  For those patients and families who find their way to the care of University medical professionals, the benefits of academic medicine are most immediate.  For 10-year-old Chase Davis and his family, these benefits offered them hope, results, and the opportunity for Chase to be something he had not yet imagined: a pioneer in medical research. Read more...

Breathing easier: teenager benefits from pectus procedure developed at the U

Stefan Jaye started jogging this spring for the first time. But last year, the 15-year-old Centennial High School freshman could not wrestle competitively more than one round without feeling out of breath. In September, he came home from a pick-up football game and collapsed, requiring ambulance transport to the hospital. Read more...

Against all odds: Annika's story

Despite the fact that eight-year-old Annika Hansen has lived abroad for more than half of her life, speaks English, French, and Spanish, and even remembers to say “please” and “thank you” on a shockingly routine basis, her life has been fairly typical for girls her age. She loves Barbie dolls, Beenie Babies, being involved in Girl Scouts, and playing with her family pet, a basset hound named Gunner. Read more...

Hard to swallow

A diagnosis of esophageal atresia and the presentation of unacceptable options leads three New York City families to seek care and hope in Minnesota. Read more...

Dealing with Childhood Obesity

The National Institutes of Health has declared childhood obesity an epidemic. The number of children who are overweight has doubled in the last two to three decades and statistics show that one child in five is overweight. Read more...

Hospital Specializes in Heart Transplants for the Tiniest Patients

After nine months of pregnancy, an adorable bundle of love becomes part of your life. Bringing your baby home from the hospital is a special day, as you look forward to watching this perfect little human being grow and learn. Imagine discovering a week or a month later that your child has developed a serious health problem and will need surgery. Whom do you trust with that tiny little body? Read more...

Giving a girl her life back: Procedure helps many pancreatitis patients live pain-free and insulin-free

Kelsey Wise was born three-and-a-half months premature, at just 1 pound and 13 ounces, with cerebral palsy.  Her mom, Tané, calls her the "miracle child" - a title that's stuck with her not so much because of her challenging start in life, but rather how she prevailed over the illness that caused her so much pain during the next eight years. Read more...

‘Live well, laugh hard': Child’s inner strength lives on in Hope for Henry Foundation

In his short life, Henry Goldberg loved to laugh. Even a courageous battle with Fanconi anemia, a deadly genetic disease, didn’t take away his mischievous grin or his sense of humor. Henry underwent a bone marrow transplant at University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital in July 2000. Following his death from the disease two years later, his family has a message for patients facing devastating illnesses: live well and laugh hard. Read more...