Your generosity enhances care for kids like Janiya

The parents of a 5-year-old girl from Indiana are thanking doctors at Advocate Children’s Hospital for saving their daughter’s life. Oshunda and Johnathan Johnson tell NBC 5 that their daughter, Janiya, was vomiting, feverish and exhausted as she experienced stomach pain and refused to eat. They took her to the doctor and urgent care multiple times, but it wasn’t until their local hospital did blood work that they found out Janiya’s kidneys and liver were failing.

Janiya was taken to Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, where she was diagnosed with pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, also known as MIS-C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says MIS-C is condition related to COVID-19 where children’s organs or body parts can become inflamed, like the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs. Janiya was in the pediatric intensive care unit for four days before recovering enough to go home. “The thought of knowing that, hey, if I would have waited one more day, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now talking to you guys,” her mother told NBC 5. “It’s really scary.”

How philanthropy impacts children like Janiya

Charitable gifts enable us to deliver exceptional care, build state-of-the-art facilities, offer support services for patients and their families, perform community outreach, provide specialized training to our caregivers and provide financial assistance to families so children can get the care they need. Your support is even more critical now as we’re still learning how COVID-19 affects children like Janiya. Please consider making a gift today.