Best in Your Own Backyard
Local Families Benefit from Packard's Excellence

Joelle Earl

Joelle Earl

Talk about heart. Seventeen-yearold Joelle Earle isn't going to let anything get in his way of being a star sprinter. Not competition. Not the inevitable pulled muscle. And not his heart transplant two years ago at Packard Children's Hospital.

Joelle began having chest pains and fainting spells when he was 7. Then in junior high he collapsed and fell unconscious twice while running. Doctors at Packard discovered that Joelle had a heart defect -- an anomalous coronary artery that branched off from the pulmonary artery instead of the aorta. Surgeons tried twice to repair his heart, but to no avail. This past spring, he had a transplant. Eight months later, he was back at track practice at Santa Teresa High School in San Jose.

Joelle doesn't often think about what he's been through, but he knows it has changed him inside. "I don't judge people like I used to, and I don't take life for granted," he says.

Come September, Joelle will go to De Anza College in Cupertino. And, yes, he intends to keep on running -- as fast and as far as his training, determination, and new heart can go.

Millicent Golding

Millicent Golding (right) with sister, Caroline (left), and mother, Charlene (top).

The odds weren't in Millicent Golding's favor when she was born unable to breathe. But she was in the right place, at Packard's Johnson Center for Newborn and Pregnancy Services where some of the best neonatologists and pediatric surgeons in the world care for mothers and babies. X-rays revealed Millicent had a serious birth defect called a diaphragmatic hernia. Early in her in utero development, her diaphragm had only partially formed, and her digestive organs had moved up into her chest cavity, leaving little room for her lungs to grow.

Millicent remained in the Hospital for the next 10 weeks after undergoing a complex surgery to repair the hernia. "I felt so fortunate that there was a hospital right here with a staff who knew what to do right away," says her mother, Charlene. "Otherwise, honestly, I don’t think she would have made it."

At home in Atherton, Millicent stayed on oxygen for more than a year and was fed through a tube for more than two years. She continues to have some breathing limitations, and, since she was tube fed for so long, Millicent doesn't always know when she's hungry and needs to eat. But these obstacles are not likely to slow her down. This bright little girl already has proven she can beat the odds.

Alison Richins

Alison Richins

Two and a half years of daily chemotherapy didn't keep Alison Richins away from her Grad Night, Senior Picnic, and graduation this spring from Carlmont High School. At age 15, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a blood cancer. After she underwent rigorous treatment at Packard Children's Hospital throughout most of high school, Alison's doctors declared her cancer-free in March. Thanks to help she got from the Hospital's on-site school, Alison met all the requirements for high school graduation, despite being absent for much of her sophomore and junior years. This fall she's off to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, planning to major in biotechnology.

Alison's mother, Marey, says having Packard nearby made it easier for friends and family to visit and lift Alison's spirits when she was hospitalized. The Richins became part of a network of families -- many local -- whose children have cancer, and who lend solace to one another. The Richins also caught a fundraising fever to find a cure for cancer. The latest adventure was in June, when Marey and Alison's sister, Lexi, joined more than 1,900 people in Tahoe on a 100-mile bike ride to raise funds for leukemia and lymphoma research.

Gage Biggs

Gaylene and Gage Biggs

Gaylene Biggs says it's nice just being a normal, sleepy new mother. Gaylene's pregnancy and the birth of her son, Gage, were far from normal. First, Stanford surgeons enlarged Gaylene's uterus so that an embryo could be implanted and grow. Twice, she almost miscarried. Then her obstetrician at Packard's Johnson Center performed a procedure to tighten her cervix so that Gage—who already had a foot out of the womb—would stay put. Finally, Gage simply could not be stopped, and he was born two months early and weighing only two pounds. He spent nine weeks in Packard's neonatal and intermediate intensive care units.

Today, having just passed his first birthday, Gage is a robust, 24-pound, "little meatloaf," says Gaylene. She recalls a particular day when they visited the staff who cared for him in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). That day had been a tough one in the NICU, but when the doctors and nurses saw Gage, they broke into smiles and said he was just the lift they needed. "It brought it all back to me, how difficult their work is, and how forever special these people will be to us," Gaylene says. "It was nice to make a small difference in their lives that day."

Devin Wakefield

Devin Wakefield with his mother, Kathleen.

Devin Wakefield has practically grown up at Packard Children's Hospital. The athletic 14-year-old has been treated at Packard's Center for Cystic Fibrosis and Pulmonary Care ever since he was diagnosed with the disease at the age of one month. As with all cystic fibrosis patients, the Center's team provides consistency and continuity to Devin's care, and will stay with him into adulthood. Whenever needed, they bring in other experts from the Hospital -- gastroenterologists, endocrinologists, and ear, nose, and throat specialists -- to treat this complex and currently incurable disease.

At the Center, patients and parents are partners with doctors in making healthcare decisions. "His doctors and I negotiate about a lot of things, and it's important to me that we do," says Devin's mother, Kathleen Flynn. "The staff is incredibly flexible."

Devin, his mom, and the Center's team will work closely over the next four years to prepare Devin for making his own health decisions when he becomes an adult. "I want Devin to figure out what kind of relationship he wants to have with his doctors," she says, "so that he can successfully continue to manage his care throughout his life."

Annika Kandadai

Annika Kandadai with her mother, Vasudha.

Every parent of a newborn longs to hear the words "Everything is perfect." But it doesn't always happen. When Annika Kandadai was born in April, her chin was too small, which caused her tongue to fold back against her throat and block her airway. She also had a cleft palate.

Annika stayed at Packard until she was two weeks old and then underwent a remarkable surgery to lengthen her chin called internal osteodistraction, which requires a special distraction device developed by Packard plastic surgeon Steven Schendel, M.D. During the procedure, Schendel cut Annika's jawbone on each side of her face, inserted the device, and then was able to lengthen her jaw by turning an external pin on either side of her face. Annika is the youngest Packard patient—and possibly the first newborn in California—to have this surgery. Now, she is breathing and eating on her own and has a chance to develop normally.

Annika's mother, Vasudha, says having Packard to turn to was a blessing for her and her husband, Vishnu. "Everyone has shown us such compassion and love," she says. "They treated us as if they were our own family."