Laura Sage playing with her son, William, at Texas Children’s Hospital

Laura Sage knew it was time to take her 11-month-old son, William, to the hospital when his lips began to turn blue. She remembers, "Despite all the construction, we got to Texas Children’s Hospital in record time. He had a mysterious virus of some kind, went into septic shock and had an inflamed heart. The virus caused his blood to hyper-coagulate, and all his extremities turned cold and purple. Several surgeries were required to save his life."

Because the hospital takes a whole-family approach to pediatric medicine, the Sages were consulted about every step of William’s care. "We were included in everything," says Mrs. Sage. "Six nurses were working with William, and they made us feel that he was their only patient. We saw the same faces over and over, so we got to know each other, which makes a huge difference when it comes to sharing information."

In addition to his parents’ intense and informed participation, William also was able to see his sisters during his three-month hospital stay. Mrs. Sage explains, "They don’t want a hospitalized child to be isolated from his family. But they also want to make it easy for small children to understand what’s going on when they visit. Before his sisters visited William for the first time, a family advocate explained all the machines to the girls so they wouldn’t be frightened when they went in and saw their brother all hooked up."

Beatrice Dickson, Assistant Director of Development says, "The family is as involved in the care of the child as the caregivers. They’re part of the care-giving team. For the new building, we put together a family advisory committee to help us with things we don’t see as caregivers that they see as parents.

"For instance, daybeds in the rooms pull out and are comfortable for one or two parents to spend the night with their child. We’re also implementing a ‘front-porch’ system in which we have a rocking chair outside the patient’s door so a parent still is right there but can take a short break. Everything we do is about the whole family."

William recovered, but he returned to the hospital after his second birthday to have a procedure that would help him walk. "For some reason, the virus affected his leg more than anything else," Mrs. Sage says. "His bones became very brittle and one leg broke. Now they must break his leg again so it will straighten out. They say he’ll be able to walk again. Otherwise, he’s on no medications and has no neurological problems, even after having a 107-degree fever for four days.

"He was a very sick little boy, and the staff at Texas Children’s Hospital was exceptional. They saved William’s life."

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