Brooke Barkan (13) from Canal Fulton will be beaming with pride on Aug. 12 as the RubberDucks baseball team takes to the field in a jersey she designed as part of the Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders’ annual patient celebration event. The RubberDucks selection team chose her design out of 42 entries, double […]
Pano is seeing cancer care from a new perspective
Five summers ago, Pano Tsarouhas (18) came to the Shower’s Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders as a patient. He’s back at Akron Children’s this summer, but now he’s learning what it’s like to sit across from patients as a provider. “I wanted to shadow Dr. Hord to help me evaluate different paths […]
Local teen celebrates high school milestones while living with sickle cell disease
Dazuan Kidd isn’t unlike other 18-year-olds who recently attended their proms and high school graduations. What makes this recent Kenmore-Garfield High School grad different is he lives with a painful genetic condition called sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease is a red blood cell disorder that causes red blood cells to become misshapen or “sickled” […]
Cancer journey helps 19-year-old rediscover his love of learning
Valentine’s Day 2020 is forever etched into Chad Bigley’s mind and not for the reason one might expect. Instead of spending the day with his high school girlfriend, Chad, age 17, was sitting with his family in orthopedic oncologist Dr. Scott Weiner’s office where he had just been officially diagnosed with osteosarcoma (the most common […]
They ‘graduated’ cancer and are now graduating high school
Five high school seniors recently gathered in downtown Akron for photos but there was no time to linger once the last image was snapped. They dashed to rescheduled softball games, spring musicals and other social engagements – just as it should be. The busy lives of teens about to embark on the world is not […]
Jackie’s journey: From cancer patient to survivor
As an athlete, patient or coach, Jackie Custer believes in the mantra there is no ‘I’ in team. Growing up, Jackie learned how to win games with her teammates. As she faced her own battle with cancer, she relied on her Akron Children’s care team to get her to the finish line. Today, at 24, […]
