Painting her way forward: Aarini uses artwork to inspire donors, kids like her

Aarini remembers her mother crying in the ambulance as they headed to the Emergency Room at Children’s Medical Center Plano. When she asked her mom why she was sad, her mom said she was hungry.

“Even as a kindergartener, I knew that wasn’t the real reason she was crying,” Aarini said. “Then I got scared because I could see that everyone in the ambulance was scared.”

A decade has passed since that terrifying ambulance ride. A lot of what Aarini, 14, recalls is hazy, but some details remain crystal clear. She remembers reading a book with her parents in her bedroom when her heart started beating so fast that she couldn’t breathe.

Then, there was the ride to one hospital in her parents’ car. Then, an ambulance ride to Children’s Health, where the image of her mom’s tear-stained face is one of the few moments that remains clear in her memory.

Back then, Aarini didn’t understand it was a severe asthma attack that landed her a stay in the Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Health for a week — and almost took her young life.

Today, she’s surprisingly philosophical about her chronic condition, which used to force her to go to the nurse’s office during recess so she could pump medicine from her inhaler into her lungs and also prevented her from ever playing outside in the winter.

Moving the focus from me to others

Though Aarini says her asthma isn’t as bad these days, she admits that there was a time last summer when she couldn’t stop thinking about that scary asthma attack when she was in kindergarten. Her doctors at Children’s Health were the ones to finally diagnose her condition, after earlier trips to another hospital yielded no answers.

“Children’s Health figured out what was going on. Then, the doctors and nurses there saved my life not once, but twice,” Aarini said. “I was texting about all this with my parents, when they asked if there was anything I’d want to do to help the hospital, since it’s such an amazing nonprofit and has done so much for so many kids like me. That was a really good question. I’m very hardworking and always trying to improve, but I don’t think that much about how I can help others or donate to something.”

Understanding how small gestures make a big difference

As Aarini thought about her ICU experience, she remembered the stuffed panda someone at Children’s Health gave her — still her favorite teddy bear. And, after the initial overwhelm of the emergency room and being hospitalized, just how nice the doctors and nurses were, including one who recommended she watch the movie, “Tangled” — a favorite to this day.

 “I came to trust and feel at home there,” she said. “Looking back, I see that it’s the small gestures that people do in life that make the difference.”

So, in an effort to give back for the compassionate, lifesaving care she received at Children’s Health, longtime artist Aarini started painting. First, she painted a really big Golden Retriever in honor of the new pet therapy dog at Children’s Medical Center Plano. Then, she drew the hospital’s Story Tree in the hope of calming patients.

Children’s Health staff members printed both paintings on cards that caregivers use to write encouraging notes to families upon their child’s discharge.

“I wanted kids to know that I experienced something similar, and that they’re going to be OK,” Aarini said. “I wanted them to have something to help them not feel stressed or overwhelmed like the stuffed panda did for me.”

Leading a richer life by giving to what matters most

In the future, Aarini, who loves math, science, reading books and the arts, leans toward becoming a doctor, but says she still “changes her mind every single day.”

For now, she is looking forward to being a patient ambassador for Children’s Health. She wants to talk to donors and use her own experiences as an example, so they can see how their giving allows the hospital to tailor care to each child’s needs and improve outcomes for kids who have a whole range of illnesses and severities — from the most common conditions to the rarest diseases.

Since Aarini’s terrifying ambulance ride 10 years ago, the Asthma Program at Children’s Health has increased staffing from a team of two to 17, including certified inpatient asthma educators on both campuses, increased partnerships and education with school nurses across North Texas, implemented Emergency Room follow-up calls to each patient and launched the Children’s Health Asthma Buddy app, all of which has helped decrease Emergency Room visits and inpatient admissions.

Aarini also wants donors to know their generosity is helping fund a major expansion to Children’s Medical Center Plano so that kids like her can receive care closer to home.

But, most importantly, as someone who’s been around the block with a serious, chronic condition, she’s hoping to meet sick kids and inspire them to “be more comfortable in the situation they’re in and know that life gets better.”

Read more patient stories like Aarini's to learn how Children's Medical Center Foundation impacts the lives of North Texas children.