Both Aly and Johanna, nurses at Cook Children's, say it's often uncomfortable when people ask what they do for a living. Most people think being a nurse in a pediatric cancer unit is 'depressing' but neither see their careers that way.

"Honestly, our kids bring so much joy into our lives. It's an honor to be able to be there for these families during such an intimate time," said Aly. "Being a nurse is more than just medicine. It's also about loving the kids and helping their families along the way."

Johanna agrees, saying "I know people are afraid of what we do because they think it's sad, but it's not sad. You develop relationships with the patients and their families. Every single one of those kids leaves a mark on you."

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After a very scary incident, Landyn and his parents learned that he has Protein S deficiency. People with this condition have a greater risk of developing abnormal blood clots than most of us.

Although Landyn can no longer play football or compete again in full contact sports due to the use of blood thinners, the teenager is enjoying a full active life, going to school, playing in his band and participate in sports that do not involve full contact.

"We can't thank Cook Children's enough," says Landyn's father Kirk. "They saved Landyn's life."

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Hutson is diagnosed with B-Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and although his life is centered around treatments, his parents still make time for him to still be a kid.

Throughout his battle with cancer, Hutson has found a love for his hat collection, and his parents love that he has a piece of his life he can choose and control.

"Hutson has a lot of hats," Bo said. "He loves picking his own hats out, which we know will serve us well at various stages of treatment."

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As Cook Children's celebrates 100 years of caring for the children in our community, our Child Life department is also celebrating a milestone, 40 years of making visits to Cook Children's easier and more comfortable for our patients and their families. For our Child Life specialists, every day is different, and every area presents different patient circumstances and needs. Here is a just a glimpse into the incredible work being done by our Child Life specialists every day.

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In the early 1900s, Ida Turner, one of Cook Children's initial founders, dedicated her life to caring for children with no access to medical care. When she established the Fort Worth Free Baby Hospital in 1918, she started a movement in our local community. Her willingness to care for the sick, no matter their condition, would be the foundation of medical advancements for the next 100 years in Fort Worth and beyond.

The advancements we've made over the years can be attributed back to Fort Worth Children's Hospital and Cook Children's Hospital merging in 1985, followed by the creation of a new medical center in 1989.

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RE/MAX real estate agents know a thing or two about finding the perfect home. After all, that's what they spend their time doing, day in and day out for their clients. For RE/MAX Trinity agent Nicole Smith, she never imagined she would consider Cook Children's Medical Center a home. But, after receiving her son Liam's diagnosis, the medical center became a home away from home for their family.

Doctors diagnosed Nicole's son Liam with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF) in 2014 when he was 7 months old. NF is a devastating genetic disorder that affects one in every 3,000 individuals. It causes tumors to grow through the nervous system, brain and spinal cord. It also causes learning disabilities and bone abnormalities.

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The Dodson Specialty Clinics building sits on the northwest side of the Cook Children's Medical Center campus and bears the name of one of Cook Children's most generous benefactors, Mrs. Clarabele "Pit" Dodson and her late husband, T.L. Dodson Jr. Hundreds of patients and families walk through the building every day, and each one benefit from the incredible legacy that Mrs. Dodson has been building for more than three decades.

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Having her baby rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) right after delivery isn't exactly how Holly Dittmar envisioned her daughter's birth. But unfortunately, that's exactly what happened when baby Melody entered the world on August 9, 2016, with extremely low blood pressure and blood sugar.

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As Cook Children's continues to celebrate our centennial year, we reflect on those who have provided philanthropic support to get us where we are today, including The Jane and John Justin Foundation and The Morris Foundation. Both have allowed our medical center and neighborhood clinics to flourish. Their dedication to children in our area is no secret, and we are honored to work together to fulfill Cook Children's Promise to provide the best care in our region.

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Nothing compares to the birth of a child. It's one of the sweetest moments a parent can experience. However, when the birth is not exactly picture-perfect, it can be rather traumatic, both for the parent and child. Holly Dittmar knows this all too well.

Melody Dittmar was born August 9, 2016 in Houston, weighing 7 lb., 13 oz. On the evening of her birth, doctors discovered she had an abnormally low blood sugar levels. Before coming to Cook Children's, her doctors struggled for two weeks to figure out what exactly was wrong.

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Nationally 30 percent of children suffer from chronic pain and more than $30 billion a year is spent toward resolving pediatric pain. In 2017, Cook Children's saw more than 1,000 individual pain management cases. With a passion for maintaining a child's quality of life, Artee Gandhi, M.D., medical director, Pain Management, and her team strive to set a good foundation for those children who experience chronic pain. Through generous donations and support from Cook Children's Health Care System, our Pain Management department has been able to help these patients dealing with acute or chronic pain.

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When a family member has a child diagnosed with cancer, their entire world changes. They find themselves part of a new community; one they never wanted to be a part of, but are glad it exists. For Jr Diaz, this new community would become an extension of his family. Their encouragement and support inspired him throughout his journey, and now he's doing something special to give back to those who need it.

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Other than the commemorative labels on them, nothing about these two bricks stands out too much. That is until you sit down and spend time with Bobby Moore. Then you will learn that Moore, who is 68 years old, plans to pass on one of those bricks to his daughter and the other one "will be in the casket with me."

So why would two old, dusty bricks mean so much to a man? Because they once held up the building then known as Fort Worth Children's Hospital and it was there where corrective surgery saved him from a life in a wheelchair.

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Harper was born with a rare genetic disorder called familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) that causes a build-up of dietary fats, often resulting in pancreatitis, acute inflammation of the pancreas and severe abdominal pain.

Patients with FCS are usually diagnosed due to debilitating symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, numbness or tingling, impaired cognition or blood with the consistency of milk, but at nine months old Harper was diagnosed due to her pink blood.

"Harper had high triglycerides and had little fat bubbles under her skin that looked like little pimples almost," her father Chris said. "One time we took her to get blood tests and her blood came out pink because it was so full of fat."

Read Harper's story

For 100 years Cook Children's has built its reputation on taking care of kids who needed help the most. Perhaps no other department is an example of that reliability and stability as the Heart Center Program. The physicians within the program are a legacy within themselves with more than 400 years of total experience, made up of more than 30 cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiac intensivists and cardiac anesthesiologists.

And sitting atop that reign of longevity are the original four cardiologists who have all been at the medical center for more than 20 years of experience.

Read Our Heart Center's story

Not much can compare to the excitement of expecting your first baby. That is, unless you hear not one, but two fluttering heartbeats during the first sonogram. In 2015, John and Shelby Snelson learned that they would be first-time parents to identical twin girls. It was a dream come true.

However, on Labor Day, the Snelsons experienced heartbreak like never before. At 26 weeks, Shelby went into unexpected labor and the girls were born three and a half months early. Tragically, one of the girls did not survive birth and the other, Isla Jane, began the fight of her life.

Read Isla Jane's story

Caring for the children of our community, regardless of family resources or a family's ability to pay, has been the foundation of Cook Children's ever since the very first baby inspired the creation of Fort Worth Free Baby Hospital in 1918. That single act of kindness defined Fort Worth Free Baby Hospital, W.I. Cook Memorial Hospital and now Cook Children's Health Care System.

The desire to do the right thing is what led to the eventual creation of Cook Children's Promise to improve health of every child in our region through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury. Due to the passion to fulfill this Promise, there is a dedicated area within Cook Children's Health Care System that is specifically focused on prevention of illness, disease and injuries.

How we keep our Promise

Diann Dunn never imagined her daughter would spend time in Cook Children's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), let alone her granddaughter, as well. But, that's exactly what happened. From her daughter's stay in 1984 to her granddaughter's in 2018, our NICU has changed significantly, yet our compassion and dedication to providing the best care for our patient families still remains.

Diann and husband, Jeffrey, moved to Fort Worth in 1980 with no real plans of making it their home. Jeffrey was pursuing his master's degree and interning at night with Bass Security in downtown Fort Worth. But, Fort Worth's charm worked its magic on the Dunns and it's been their home now for almost 40 years.

Diann had already given birth to two girls with no complications or issues and her fourth pregnancy seemed to be heading in the same direction. However, around 33 weeks, she started to feel like something wasn't right.

Read Diann's story

Cook Children's Health Care System is a not-for-profit organization. But what exactly does that mean?

Philanthropy permeates the history of Cook Children's, beginning with Ida Turner and Matilda Cook. In fact, it was Matilda's visionary gift that established the W. I. Cook Foundation, known today as Cook Children's Health Foundation.

What many people may not know is that Cook Children's Health Foundation is the governing body of our entire not-for-profit health care system.

What is not-for-profit?

May 29, 2018

A NICU Tour Begins a Journey to Health

Instead of registering for baby furniture or decorating a nursery, Michelle and Brad Hudson prepared for the birth of their daughter by touring the NICU at Cook Children's. Their baby girl, Samantha, was diagnosed with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and was given a 25 percent chance to live. Once she was born, her survival rate dropped even lower.

Read Samantha's story

Even with everything they had gone through at this point, nothing had prepared Autumn and Darrell for what occurred on May 2017 in their little town of Coyle, Okla. Their daughter Kynlee was diagnosed with a stroke. She was transferred to a larger hospital in Oklahoma, and after a lengthy hospitalization, the family returned home with limited information about Kynlee's condition.

Autumn and Darrell were at a loss by the end of the year and struggling to find some hope for their daughter's condition. They found it in an old friend. Dr. Palmer had moved to Cook Children's and was still seeing Kynlee for her urological condition. He suggested Kynlee be seen by Cook Children's Comprehensive Stroke and Thrombosis Program.

Read Kynlee's story

When Katie and Chas Shira walked into Cook Children's Medical Center on a warm December night in 2015, they had nothing but a name, a code and an empty car seat. They had driven three hours from their home in the tiny town of O'Brien, Texas with the understanding that their lives were about to change.

Inside the hospital, nurses and security guards were on high alert. The 2-month-old boy the Shiras were on their way to pick up was under a security watch. He had a broken femur and doctors were certain his injury was no accident. The longest and strongest bone in his body had been snapped in half. On top of that, he was suffering withdrawals from methamphetamine. Child Protective Services (CPS) acted quickly by taking the baby into their custody and beginning the search for a foster family.

Read Jett's story

Jon Bonnell, an internationally known chef, was a patient at Fort Worth Children's Hospital in 1972 for more than two months. He credits two pioneering doctors, surgeon Dick Ellis, M.D., and pediatrician Bill Scroggie, M.D., for saving his life.

"I'll never forget it," Dr. Scroggie said. "It was about 2 in the morning. Dick said, 'Bill, I think Jon might die.' I came out of that bed so fast and raced to the hospital. Jon's dad, Bill, was a good friend of mine and I was being told his son was going to die."

Read Jon Bonnell's story

March 9, 2018

Young Philanthropist

For children, birthdays are cause for celebration! Most plan parties and can hardly wait to tear into their presents, but not Julia Hart. In 1992, a trip to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital for Children (GOSH) in London changed her outlook on how to celebrate her future birthdays. It also helped change how Cook Children's would encourage philanthropy among the youngest in our community.

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March 8, 2018

Mending Broken Hearts (part 2)

There's a special bond that lives in the hearts of mothers and daughters. But in the case of Melanie and her daughter Rossleigh, the two share a unique connection that threads across a generation and begins right here at Cook Children's.

We hope you enjoy the continued story of Melanie and Rossleigh Dewey, both born with congenital heart defects.

Read Mending Broken Hearts (part 2)

March 8, 2018

Caregiving in Action: An Interview with Nancy Cychol

When Nancy Cychol came to Cook Children's as a nurse in 1984, she only intended to stay for three years. Now, more than three decades later, she's serving as the chief of hospital services. But what really makes her special is her passion for creating a fun environment for children to heal. Her enthusiasm for patients, families and staff all across Cook Children's Health Care System is the one contagious outbreak we're glad to have.

Read Caregiving in Action

February 22, 2018

Mending Broken Hearts (part 1)

Health care and technology are two things that are constantly changing. One thing that doesn't change is our commitment to the children we care for from one generation to the next. As we look back over Cook Children's 100-year history, we can see the amazing medical advancements that are happening here daily. It's evident in every patient story. It's also why so many children who relied on us in the past, now trust their children to us.

We hope you enjoy the story of Melanie and Rossleigh Dewey, a mother and daughter both born with congenital heart defects.

Read Mending Broken Hearts

January 5, 2018

The Amazing Adventure of Mirko Alvarez

What would you do to save your child? Would you travel across the world? Would you leave your family behind? Sell everything you own? Give the shirt off your back?

Diego and Tatiana Alvarez did all those things to help their son Mirko in his battle against epilepsy. Follow this wild adventure that began a year ago in Bolivia and brought them to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

Read Mirko's Amazing Adventure