University of Iowa Children’s Hospital has an all-star lineup in this year’s Kid Captain team, ready to kick off the season with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team.
Thirteen current and former UI Children’s Hospital patients will take their turn representing the hospital as Kid Captains during the Iowa Hawkeyes’ 2015 football season. Makayla Bell, 8, and Nicholas Showman, 12, both of Pella, will also be invited to Kids Day at Kinnick Stadium in August for a special behind-the-scenes tour. Each child’s story will be highlighted during the football season.
Makayla will be captain at the Illinois State game on September 5th. When Makayla’s mom, Melanie, was pregnant, she started having an abnormal pain. An ultrasound with a local doctor showed Makayla had omphalocele, a birth defect in which the baby’s intestines or other organs are outside the body because of a hole in the abdominal wall. Melanie was referred to a hospital in Des Moines, where they discovered Makayla would be born with spina bifida, a dilated right kidney, and clubfoot. The Des Moines hospital began consulting with doctors at University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, and continued doing so throughout the remainder of the pregnancy. Makayla was born three weeks premature at UI Children’s Hospital with additional birth defects. The doctors diagnosed her with OEIS syndrome, which occurs in just one of 300,000 infants. Once Makayla was born, a team of pediatric specialists worked together to develop a plan of care and she had her first surgery at just 5 days old. Makayla has had 14 major surgeries, and is a very social and energetic girl. She loves softball and soccer, and swimming with her friends in the summer, and anything having to do with flamingos.
Nick will be captain at the Illinois game on October 10th. Nick started his relationship with University of Iowa Children’s Hospital after being diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, when he was 4 years old. He and his family worked with the pediatric neurology team to understand what to expect and what challenges lay in front of them. Now 12, Nick can no longer walk but approaches life in a positive way. He jokes that he tends to be the one kid in so many people to get this or that. He knows there are additional challenges to come, but also knows there is hope with research and potential treatments. His favorite color is blue, and he loves watching sports.
The Kid Captain program began in 2009 as a partnership between UI Children’s Hospital and the Iowa Hawkeyes to honor pediatric patients and celebrate their inspirational stories. This year’s Kid Captains were selected from 370 nominations from 8 states.
“This is a group of strong, determined young people who truly represent the mission of our hospital,” says Raphael Hirsch, MD, physician-in-chief of UI Children’s Hospital. “Our patients and their families are the faces of inspiration and courage as they take on some very tough battles.”
“I’m sure I’m speaking for everyone in wishing this year’s Kid Captains all the best, and offering a hearty ‘Congratulations’ to each of the patients and their families. We thank them all for allowing us to share their remarkable stories,” Hirsch says.