Meet our 2022 Children’s Health Patient Ambassadors! This league of superhero patients are advocates for Children’s Health through sharing their stories of resilience and hope at events and campaigns. They educate others about their journeys, and they also have the opportunity to fundraise for an area of Children’s Health that is meaningful to them. Together, they help make life better for kids just like them.  

2022 Patient Ambassadors

• 
  Autumn, Age 6 

  Diagnosis: Neuroblastoma 
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas 
  Favorite hobbies: Science, art and all things unicorns!

• 
  Axel, Age 4

  Diagnosis: Solid Organ Transplant, Liver
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas
  Favorite movie: Aquaman
  
  Axel's Story: Born in December 2017, Axel was rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at a local hospital. His bilirubin levels were too high, which meant doctors had to figure out whether his liver was producing too much bile or if it was unable to process it.
  
  Either way, the situation put Axel’s health at severe risk.  
  
  Read Axel's Story

• 
  Caleb, Age 11

  Diagnosis: Cystic Fibrosis
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas
  Favorite hobby: Playing Baseball
  
  Caleb's Story: “Most kids can play all day, but I have to go inside and do breathing treatments and take pills before I can eat,” said Caleb, who has been admitted to the hospital more than a dozen times and has a collapsed left lung.

  “CF makes me feel different. I stand out,” he said. “In P.E., we have to run a mile every month, and I’m usually the last person to finish.”  
  
  Read Caleb's Story

• 
  Charleigh, Age 10 

  Diagnosis: Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas 
  Favorite hobby: Art

• 
  Chi-Heng, Age 16 

  Diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Leukemia
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas 
  Favorite movie: Edge of Tomorrow

• 
  Davi, Age 6

  Diagnosis: Congenital Heart Defect
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas
  Favorite movies: Hamilton, Frozen 2 and any other movie she can sing to!

  Davi's Story: Diagnosed with a congenital heart defect before she was born, 6-year-old Davi has been in and out of our care since 2015. And through it all, she’s had the Red Balloon League by her side. There were Child Life specialists who taught her distraction tricks and brought pet therapy dogs for cuddles. There were doctors who performed life-saving surgeries. And most importantly, there were donors like you. 
  
  Read Davi's Story

• 
  Edison, Age 7

  Diagnosis: Cerebral Palsy
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas
  Favorite hobbies: Building Legos and drawing fire trucks
  
  Edison's Story: If you meet 7-year-old, Edison, he will likely test your knowledge of computer coding (he attends a STEM-focused elementary school) and share his most recent plans for Lego structures.

  He probably won’t mention that he has cerebral palsy, a neurodevelopmental condition that impacts his movement, posture and muscle control. 
  
  Read Edison's Story

• 
  Ja'Niyah, Age 11

  Diagnosis: Heart Transplant
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas
  Favorite hobby: Arts and crafts

• 
  Kadence, Age 5

  Diagnosis: Birth Brain Defect
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Plano
  Favorite hobbies: Gymnastics, Play-Doh and coloring

  Kadence's Story: Kadence was six months old when she went to live with her grandmother, Deondriea. The tiny baby’s brain hadn’t developed as it was supposed to in utero, and right away, Deondriea noticed that Kadence hadn’t reached many of the milestones a baby her age should meet.  

  The first thing Deondriea did was make an appointment with Children’s Health.  
  
  Read Kadence's Story

• 
  Kasen, Age 11

  Diagnosis: Leukemia
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Plano
  Favorite hobbies: All things sports!

  One night, Kasen’s fever spiked to 106 degrees. He couldn’t stop throwing up, and he was so weak that Melissa rushed him back to the doctor. This time, she mentioned some of Kasen’s lymph nodes seemed swollen, so they sent him to Children's Health Plano.  

  Within three days, Kasen had started chemotherapy, and he wouldn’t leave the hospital for another four weeks.
  
  Read Kasen's Story

• 
  Preston, Age 17

  Diagnosis: Testicular Cancer
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Plano
  Favorite movies: All scary movies
  
  Preston was only a freshman in high school when a surgeon in the emergency room at Children’s Health told him he’d have to remove one of his testicles and a tumor that had caused it to swell to three times its normal size.  

  “I didn’t have enough time to be scared,” Preston said of the April 2020 event. 
  
  Read Preston's Story

• 
  Tanner, Age 14

  Diagnosis: Cystic Fibrosis
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas
  Favorite hobby: Gaming
  
  Tanner's Story: Both born with the genetic disease, cystic fibrosis, Tanner and Caleb are close – even when their disease requires them sometimes to be six feet apart. 

  “It’s that brother relationship that I can hit him, but if anybody else does, I’m hitting them twice as hard,” Tanner said. “I’m the older brother. I watch out for him.”
  
  Read Tanner's Story

• 
  Vienna, Age 13

  Diagnosis: Heart Transplant
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas
  Favorite hobbies: Tik Toks, dancing and sketching

• 
  Zoey, Age 12

  Diagnosis: Rehabilitation
  Location: Our Children's House
  Favorite hobby: Drawing
  
  Zoey's Story:

  Zoey was 18 months old when she was rushed to Children’s Health after a near-drowning accident. On a feeding tube and barely moving, doctors told her mother, Rebekah, that she’d likely be in a semi-vegetative state for the rest of her life. But as Rebekah leaned over the crib to tell her baby that she loved her, Zoey smiled. And that smile filled Rebekah with hope.

  Read Zoey's Story

Photos Coming Soon: 

• Eshan, Age 8 

  Diagnosis: Neuroblastoma 
  Location: Children’s Medical Center Dallas 
  Favorite movie: Any Avengers movie