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These patients are just a few of many children who you will be helping with your donations to Birdies Fore Brighter Futures!

(Click the link below each patient photo to watch a video of their story)

Mona’s Story

Five-year-old Mona is a one-of-a-kind girl. Literally. Her neurologist, Jennifer Madan Cohen, MD, the medical director of Connecticut Children’s Epilepsy Center, says she is likely the only child in the world who is missing two particular seizure-related genes.
In addition to the two gene deletions, Mona has something called secondary adrenal insufficiency, which impacts regulation of most of your bodies functions. With these conditions and associated symptoms, Mona requires constant attention, which means her parents have to work in shifts at their jobs, taking turns to be with Mona. And yet they are nothing but grateful.

Junior’s Story

When Junior was born, in the fall of 2019, he was at 27 weeks’ gestation and weighed two pounds. Most of his organs were still developing, and he faced many health challenges. Among many health challenges Junior faced, the most serious was his heart. The valve between the two major arteries, which is open while a baby is in the womb, had failed to close, and blood was going to the wrong places. It was an emergency situation that required heart repair right away—and Connecticut Children’s skilled interventional cardiology team was able to do this repair non-invasively.

Princess’ Story

For Princess, it started when she was a 17-year-old senior in high school: she had a pain in her chest, pain that eventually got so severe her parents took her to Hartford Hospital Emergency Department. A scan of her chest showed a mass about three inches across, and a biopsy later revealed she had non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Hartford Hospital transferred her to Connecticut Children’s where she could get specialized care for pediatric cancer.

“When I found out that it was cancer,” Princess says, “I felt everything in me was sucked out. I felt like a ghost. I went numb.”

Owen’s Story

It started with the simplest of things: Owen developed a faint rash on his legs while on vacation. However, within a few days things quickly escalated and Owen’s parents received unimaginable news—Owen had leukemia.

For the next three and a half years, Connecticut Children’s was like a second home for Owen’s family. The 8th floor was lovingly referred to as the “penthouse” because of the amazing care they received…and that has made all the difference to him and his family.