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The Junior Reporter program, born from the partnership between University of Notre Dame Athletics and Beacon Health Foundation, gives Beacon Children’s Hospital patients the opportunity to meet and interview Notre Dame athletes. Meet these special kids, learn their stories and see them in action.
Get to know these amazing kids and find their full story and video below.
Fifth-grader Braxton’s healthcare journey started when he complained to his parents about some stomach pain. After numerous medical visits, a suspected virus turned out to be something much more serious: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood. Fortunately, Braxton’s illness responded to treatment immediately. In fact, the cancer cells died so quickly that the care team had to race to flush the released toxins out of his body. One month after treatment began, his cancer was in remission, and a few months after that, Braxton was the starting pitcher in a baseball game. Now that Braxton is one and one-half years into his treatment, there is no sign that the leukemia will return. With a smile, his mother, Päivi, says, “He’s going to have a happy, healthy life.”
On the first day of school in 2021, 6-year-old Avery woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. Off and on over the next six weeks, she would experience low-grade fevers and terrible leg pain. Multiple doctor’s visits and tests didn’t provide any definite answers. “The six weeks just felt like it was a lifetime,” said her mom, Kait. When worsening symptoms led to an emergency room visit, additional testing revealed that Avery had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Aggressive treatment started right away, and she completed two years of treatment last December. “She’s so smart and so brave. We called her Ave the Brave during her treatment,” said Kait.
Foundation questions? Please call (574) 647-6613 or email give@beaconhealthsystem.org.
