Commemorating a Year of Healing: Sophia’s Story

While many of us were cheerfully ringing in 2021 with friends and family, 5-year-old Sophia and her parents were grappling with devastating news — doctors had discovered a tumor in her pelvis.

Juju’s Journey

Juju is a typical 4-year-old. She loves music and drawing, and has seen Frozen and Frozen 2 “at least 30 times.” Over the past 10 months, Juju has done all of this while battling cancer at UPMC Children’s.

UPMC Children’s “Became a Second Home” to Rilyn

Rilyn’s parents’ lives were turned upside down just weeks after the onset of the pandemic, in April 2020, when they noticed persistent bruising under Rilyn’s eye. When the bruising didn’t heal, they brought her to the emergency department at UPMC Children’s.

Joey’s Story

Joey was always the life of the party, very inquisitive and an overall silly and active boy, so it wasn’t long before his parents noticed something was very wrong.

Meet Raegan

Despite a full and busy life, Raegan lives with a chronic illness called short bowel syndrome. A complex disease, short bowel syndrome affects a child’s ability to absorb nutrients from food because part of the small intestine is missing or malfunctioning.