Joanne Barker

5 days ago | answers.childrenshospital.org | Joanne Barker

From her dorm in Newcastle, England, Jackie Zapata can hear fans roaring in the soccer stadium a few blocks away. Soccer is a major pastime in her adopted home. “The city gets amped up anytime there’s a game,” she says. “It’s a huge part of the culture here.” This enthusiasm makes Newcastle a good place for 21-year-old Jackie to live, study, and train. Jackie was 10 when, inspired by a flyer for the 2014 World Cup, she set her sights on playing professional soccer.

2 weeks ago | answers.childrenshospital.org | Joanne Barker

Summer is full of delights: lemonade, ice cream, and fresh-cut grass to name a few. Unfortunately, the warmer months can also come with a type of injury that takes many families by surprise. Mowing the lawn may seem perfectly normal and safe. However, the blades that cut the grass can also do serious damage to people, many of them children. In fact, as many as 17,000 children suffer lawnmower injuries each year.

1 month ago | answers.childrenshospital.org | Joanne Barker

Beckett Stone-Lyman is an adorable, fun 2-year-old who loves to run, sprint, and climb. If he’s not charging around the playground, he’s probably doing a pirate puzzle. Or maybe he’s staring at his fingers as he wiggles them, amazed that his right hand can now do many of the same things as his left. Thanks to his hard work (and that of his parents), he can also clap his hands over his head and use both hands to cover his eyes in a game of peekaboo.

1 month ago | answers.childrenshospital.org | Joanne Barker

If it were any other year, Charlotte Gillis would have celebrated her 10th birthday in mid-July with a big party. But in June 2024, a fall from a swing had left her temporarily paralyzed. Though her mobility returned within a few hours, she was still in a neck brace, still wobbly on her feet, and still had pins and needles that made walking painful several weeks later. With her birthday looming, she was scheduled for spine surgery in late July.

2 months ago | medicalxpress.com | Joanne Barker

About one in 1,000 children are born with brachial plexus birth injury (BPBI), upper extremity weakness or paralysis resulting from trauma to the brachial plexus nerves during childbirth. Most children with BPBI recover with observation and minimally invasive care, but about 30% have injuries severe enough to lead to long-term impairment. Thanks to recent advances in nerve repair, ruptured or avulsed nerves can often be repaired surgically. The challenge is knowing which infants would benefit.