Miracle Monday: Annual fundraiser for the Childrens Hospital of Georgia returns
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - You will have the chance to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia this week.
The 24th annual iHeart Media Cares for Kids Radiothon kicks off Thursday.
Every dollar raised goes right back to the kids, just like 7-year-old Kensley who has been coming to the children’s hospital since last year.
“We had a perfectly healthy five-year-old and then two weeks later it was a totally different child,” said Mandy Woodberry, Kensley’s mother.
Last year Mandy and Tyren Woodberry noticed a rash on their little girl Kensley.
Tyren, Kensley’s father says this spiraled into so much more.
“As she stopped eating, she also seemed like she was in a state of depression,” he said. “She would go to the bed to the couch and back to the bed. She would not move, so we knew something was wrong with our child. She wasn’t herself.”
Miracle Monday: iHeartMedia Cares for Kids Radiothon returns for 24th year
We are a month away from the 24th annual iHeartMedia Cares for Kids Radiothon and you at home can be a part of helping make miracles happen for these families.
Mandy says Kensley lost a significant amount of weight and complained of pain in her legs and feet which made it hard to walk.
“One day I was going to car line to pick her up, and she struggled to walk, so I went to get a rolling chair to roll her down the hallway because she was in so much pain,” said Mandy.
Because of this, they spent a lot of time in and out of the pediatrician’s office.
“The big eye opener for us to know that something was wrong was after blood work,” said Mandy. “The doctor came in and said all of her levels are low, but we don’t suspect that it’s leukemia. I looked at my husband and was like leukemia, oh my gosh I didn’t know we were looking at something so serious.”
At five years old, Kensley was referred to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia where she met with different specialists.
“We’re just blessed that CHOG has that here,” said Mandy. “We didn’t have to worry about driving hours to have our child seen.”
Within a month, Kensley was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease which
causes skin rash and muscle inflammation in kids.
Miracle Monday: Because of CHOG, ‘I want to be a nurse’
One little girl is sharing her message of hope as she fights a rare type of bone cancer. Kensley is 9 years old and was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma last year.
“We got the official diagnosis of juvenile dermatomyositis,” said Mandy. It was relief in knowing that we knew what her plan of treatment would look like.”
There is no cure for juvenile dermatomyositis, so Kensley receives monthly infusions to build her immune system and takes daily medication.
Her mom says what Kensley experiences now is nothing compared to what it was initially.
“We do have a care team that’s going to make sure that we make the adjustments we need to make so that she continues to progress,” she said.
“They really do become a family to us and we are just so grateful and so thankful,” said Tyren.
Kensley got to attend Camp t Venture this summer where she met other kids in similar situations. This camp is funded through donations from Radiothon.
If you would like to kids like Kensley, you’ll be able to do that during the fundraiser which is December 5-7.
You can find more information on the event and how you can help on their website.
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