Champion Stories

The arrival of baby Mateo was a highly anticipated event. Mom said he was perfect: 10 fingers, 10 toes and a strong set of lungs.

A few hours later, though, Mateo was fussy, vomiting and wouldn’t eat. By the next day, he hadn’t passed a bowel movement and his belly was swollen. His parents, Kayla and Carlos Guerrero, started getting worried.

After ruling out typical newborn issues, Mateo was transferred to Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend by neonatal ambulance. X?rays showed he had a blockage in his bowel that needed surgery to be fixed. At just 1 day old, Mateo had an ileostomy—a procedure to bypass part of the intestines, allowing waste to be eliminated through an external bag. A complication required the surgery to be done a second time—this time pediatric surgeon Dr. Wadie diagnosed Mateo with Total Colonic Hirschsprung’s Disease (HD).

HD is rare, occurring in only 1 in 5,000 births. It’s a congenital condition thought to be caused by missing nerve cells in the colon. If not treated immediately, it can be fatal because it inhibits normal bowel movements and absorption of nutrients from food. Mateo’s condition was severe—he needed more surgery to insert a gastrostomy tube to allow for concentrated nutrients to be delivered directly into his digestive system.

While undergoing surgeries and related procedures, Mateo spent 71 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. Kayla and Carlos were finally able to take him home on New Year’s Eve—Dec. 31, 2008. They are incredibly grateful for the caring hospital staff and the support of Children’s Miracle Network throughout Mateo’s stay at Sacred Heart.

Mateo is now an active and growing 17?month?old boy. He and his family continue to manage his daily needs with an ileostomy bag and gastrostomy tube. While he’ll need more surgeries in the future, with the help of the Sacred Heart medical team and assistance of Children’s Miracle Network, the Guerreros are confident Mateo will enjoy a full and productive life.

Like many sisters, Morgan and Hanna shared almost everything. But when Hanna was diagnosed with Hurler’s Disease, Morgan shared something that would change both of their lives forever—her bone marrow.

Hurler’s Disease makes it impossible for Hanna to break down starches produced in her body and those starches attack various organs and structures in her body. Morgan’s bone marrow has helped Hanna’s body produce the enzymes needed to reverse those attacks.

Hanna continues to visit Rogue Valley Medical Center for infusion therapy to replace the enzymes her body doesn’t produce. The infusions will continue for the rest of her life. But that certainly doesn’t stop Hanna from living with gusto.

From riding ponies to flying hot air balloons, she lives life to the fullest…a gift she knows is in great part to her sister and the incredible medical staff at Rogue Valley Medical Center.

My name is Diana Dickerson and I worked for Verity Credit Union just over 16 years.  I’m proud to work for a credit union that supports the Credit Union 4 Kids. I know personally how important to spread awareness and to support the local Children’s hospitals. 

Back in October 2009 our lives changed forever.  My 15-year-old son Joshua was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma in his right cheek, a rare soft tissue cancer.  We are so grateful to have Seattle Children’s Hospital in our backyard. 

From the beginning Seattle Children’s made us feel like family.  Joshua’s treatment included 11 months of chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation.  Seattle Children’s assigned Joshua his own team to take care of his treatment.  This team became a family to us and Joshua felt comfortable which helped his recovery.  Being a teenager is tough enough but a teenager with caner is almost impossible. Seattle Children’s also recognized teens have different needs so they have a teen room which is only for teens with cancer and their visitors. 

During my son’s treatment he had to drop out of school and just concentrate on his treatment.  It now has just been 1 year since his last chemotherapy treatment.  Joshua repeated his sophomore year at O’Dea High School and has even been able to recover enough to start on his varsity high school baseball team. Joshua still visits Seattle Children’s for his scans and we visit the nurses and the hospital to say “hi”, drop off homemade flannel pillowcases, and visit the other cancer patients. 

To get the full story plus photos and comments from Joshua's family and friends visit their website at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshuadickerson.

Liam Jaussi was just a typical 5-year-old kid who rode his bike and played outside, but that all changed in May 2010. He started waking up at two in the morning for no reason. He had no appetite. When his parents noticed that the left side of Liam’s face was drooping, they knew something was wrong. A scan revealed a large mass on the right side of his brain.

They immediately took him to OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital where, over the next five days, surgeons performed two surgeries totaling over 17 hours to remove the tumor. Within weeks he was back to full strength, riding his bike, and still the Liam his parents know and love. After that, this brave little boy underwent 33 treatments of radiation without sedation.

Now, Doernbecher has a whole new meaning to the Jaussis. Liam is living proof of the good that Doernbecher does. The Jaussi family walked out of the hospital with the same hopes and dreams that they had going in. Liam’s battle continues, but so does his courage and compassion.

When Liam’s parents told him that people were donating money at the Heart of Doernbecher Auction to help children at “his hospital,” he ran to his bedroom and returned with his piggy bank. He said “I’m six years old, and I want to give six dollars.” At the November event, amid donations of thousands of dollars, Liam brought his own contribution from his piggy bank.