Zannah’s parents were alarmed when she fell limp in her father’s arms at 2 weeks old. With a prenatal heart defect and a hypoplastic right heart, they knew the odds of good health were against her. She was taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest and diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection. Zannah was placed on a life-support machine that took over the function of her lungs and heart. She was given 24 to 48 hours to live.

Miraculously, Zannah survived, and that hospital visit marked the first of several, including two open-heart surgeries to repair her heart defects. Caretakers recommended Zannah’s parents be tested to ensure that heart conditions weren’t a family matter. As a result of the screenings, Zannah’s mother discovered she had hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

Zannah is now a healthy little girl who loves to sing and dance, as well as laugh with her jokester father.

How donations helped Zannah at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center:  

When Zannah went into cardiac arrest following the diagnosis of several heart conditions and the contraction of a rare bacterial infection, she was placed on a special machine that ultimately saved her life. Donations help fund this type of life-saving equipment at Zannah’s member CMN Hospital.

Starting preschool can be overwhelming for some 4-year-olds. For JaKiah, the hardest part was saying goodbye to her classmates when she was diagnosed with kidney cancer a month and a half into the school year.

During a routine checkup, JaKiah’s primary care physician noticed swelling in her abdomen. They initially believed it was a minor infection, but soon discovered it was an advanced stage of Wilms’ tumor. While her school friends learned the alphabet, JaKiah underwent months of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.

Today, JaKiah is in remission. She is a vibrant and happy child who will continue enduring numerous ultrasounds, CT scans, X-rays, blood work and check-ups until 2023 to ensure she’s cancer free. JaKiah doesn’t mind; she’s happy to be back in school with her friends.

Children’s Miracle Network Champions, photographed by Justin Hackworth

How donations helped JaKiah at Arkansas Children’s Hospital:   

CMN Hospitals funds helped pay for the new 258,000-square-foot wing that houses the hematology/oncology clinic where JaKiah was treated and the healing garden where she spent days recovering.

Corbin doesn’t let his cerebral palsy hold him back. Born prematurely, he first visited his children’s hospital for a physical therapy evaluation at 13 months old. A child this age would typically be sitting, crawling or possibly walking, but Corbin could barely roll.

In therapy almost five days a week since his initial diagnosis, Corbin has shown amazing perseverance through his illness. In just two months of therapy, he went from walking 150 feet in 30 minutes to doing so in 10 minutes, in only two months.

Corbin is a bundle of energy and enjoys T-ball, riding horses and playing video and board games. He loves spending time on the farm, like his dad, and even participates in mutton busting — similar to bull riding at rodeos, where children ride or race sheep. Not even a rough-and-tumble sheep can stop this rambunctious kid.

How donations helped Corbin at CHRISTUS Health Shreveport-Bossier:  

CMN Hospitals donations have helped Corbin since birth. He was transported to intensive care by a team supported by CMN Hospitals funds. Since then he has visited the Kid’s Clinic, where equipment purchased by donations has allowed Corbin to move from his walker to tripod canes.

Now over 6 feet tall, Nate has a unique view of the world — both from a physical perspective and an intellectual one. His childlike innocence allows him to see the good in everyone and everything around him.

Nate was born with a complex and uncommon set of heart defects, and a 30 percent chance of survival. His heart pumps backward; his blood is only oxygenated once; and he has loud murmurs and multiple holes in his heart chambers. Nate also suffers from a minor seizure disorder.

Though aware of his conditions, Nate seems oblivious to their constraints. He tires easily because he runs on less oxygen than everyone else, but has a fighting spirit that keeps him from giving up. Nate is happiest outdoors, listening to bird songs and trying to identify the species, playing in the sandbox and making up stories. He also has a passion for trains.

His mom shared a lesson we can all learn from: “Nate conquers his disability by being joyful.”

How donations helped Nate at St. Francis Foundation:  

CMN Hospitals donations help cover Nate’s prescription costs and travel expenses for out-of-town doctor visits and surgical procedures. They also purchased a stationary bike seven years ago and recently, a tandem bike called “big blue.” Each has greatly improved Nate’s quality of life by helping him stay active.

“Have courage and be kind.” These words, bestowed upon Cinderella by her mother, inspire Delaney to fight her battle with spina bifida. That fight began at birth when she was surprisingly diagnosed with a severe form of spina bifida. Delaney’s vertebrae didn’t develop properly around her spinal cord, causing complications that required surgery on the second day of her life. Five major surgeries followed, including having a shunt placement in her brain.

Delaney’s positive outlook and social calendar overshadow her daily struggles; there’s waterskiing, shrimping, Girl Scouts, piano lessons and volunteering with her dad, a veterinarian whose career she aspires to have.

In 2014, Delaney and her family once again turned to Cinderella’s mother’s words after losing their home during a terrible flood. Family and friends dug them out of the mud and they are planning to rebuild a home that is more accessible for Delaney.

Delaney’s latest goal is wheelchair racing. She’s raising money for a chair with her cupcake and lemonade stand.

How donations helped Delaney at the University of South Alabama Children’s & Women’s Hospital: 

Delaney receives treatments and consultations with specialists in neurosurgery, orthopedics, urology and more. All of these areas are supported by CMN Hospitals donations.

In honor of Mother’s Day, one “Miracle Mom” shares her experience with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals via Remax.

It was June 23, 2013. After years of infertility, my husband and I were welcoming our triplets into this world. What should have been the most beautiful day of my life turned into a chaotic and bittersweet day as I delivered my babies more than 17 weeks premature. As I look back at this day, which is forever etched into my heart and memory, I can’t help but smile. My children wouldn’t have been given a chance at life if we weren’t at St. John’s Children’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

At this hospital, I celebrated the happiest day of my life, along with the two darkest days I’ve ever experienced. My children were born at 22 weeks 6 days, not even considered viable by most hospitals in our country. Yet the neonatologists were ready, in case my children showed signs of life. My daughter, Abigail, died a few hours after birth. Her brother, Parker, lived his entire 55 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Our lone survivor, Peyton, is the definition of a Miracle Child. After spending nearly four months in the NICU, she’s alive and thriving at close to 3 years old.

The NICU can be a scary place. For some babies, it’s a brief stop on their way home. For others, like Peyton and Parker, it becomes their home. My husband and I spent every waking hour at St. John’s Children’s Hospital, oftentimes sitting bedside at our children’s isolettes, not able to even touch our babies because they were too weak. At just over a pound each, we never expected our babies to survive. But the doctors and nurses gave us hope every single day. And even as Parker died in our arms at nearly 2 months old, the staff provided us comfort. People often ask me how I return to a hospital where two of my children died. It’s easy — the hospital staff became family. Because of top-notch medical care, each of our triplets were born alive. And even though two of our babies lived just a short life, those few memories at the hospital will last us a lifetime.

As a television news anchor, I’ve spent years volunteering for children’s organizations and interviewing families with unique stories. Never in a million years did I expect to someday become one of those families. But I feel so blessed to be part of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals family. You never understand the benefit of a CMN Hospital until you find yourself in need of one. For my family, we saw firsthand how donations to CMN Hospitals are being used. What may seem like a simple reclining chair is so much more to a NICU family. For us, that’s where we first held our 1-pound babies, giving us that moment where we finally felt like a family. After the NICU journey, our surviving triplet visited the follow-up clinic, where doctors checked her development. Those rooms funded by CMN Hospitals may look like a typical exam room, but for us it’s so much more. It’s symbolic of how far our Miracle Child has come.

Today, our daughter Peyton is not only a survivor, she’s a walking miracle. As a “22-weeker,” she’s the youngest baby to survive at our hospital. As I watched Peyton recently dance at a CMN Hospitals event, I couldn’t help but tear up. She has defied the odds, conquering every uphill battle that has come her way. She’s not only beautiful and full of energy, she’s healthy. And it’s all because of St. John’s Children’s Hospital. 

Since partnering with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in 1992, REMAX agents have raised more than $147 million for the charity’s 170 member hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Donations help fund pediatric medical equipment and treatments, healthcare services and charitable care. Learn more by visiting www.cmnhospitals.org/. You can follow Stacey’s journey as a Miracle Mom on her blog, “Perfectly Peyton.”