Grace
As a baby, Gracie was diagnosed at Lurie Children’s with an extremely rare disorder known as an auditory brainstem pathway dysfunction, which could potentially affect her hearing and speech development. Gracie began working with speech and audiology therapists on identifying sounds to help with her hearing loss. “Lurie Children’s stepped up to the plate and helped her overcome it,” says Gracie’s mother, Sylwia. Not long after, she was also diagnosed with neutropenia, a condition caused by an abnormally low concentration of white blood cells that leaves the body vulnerable to infections, for which she received treatment for 18 months. She was a perfectly healthy child for three months—until she was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis in her ankles and began a full year of treatment that led the arthritis to enter a medicated remission. She still has one year of treatment for her arthritis. Today, Gracie is a fun-loving young girl who loves animals and dolls, coloring, making jewelry and reading. She adores her team of caregivers at Lurie Children’s and wants to be a doctor when she grows up.