Caring for Reece and his family

Janielle and Randy Raven noticed changes in their 6-year-old son, Reece, in the summer of 2015. “We’d go to the pool and he would lay his head on the deck and say ‘I just can’t swim today, Mom. I just don’t feel good,’” Janielle remembers. As a Trauma Life Support nurse, Janielle knew to take immediate action the night Reece woke her up with a headache so severe that he vomited.

Pediatric emergency room physicians discovered a tumor at the base of Reece’s skull, and he was promptly admitted to American Family Children’s Hospital. Two days later, neurosurgeon Benny Iskandar performed a 12-hour surgery to remove a benign tumor, and Reece spent three weeks at the hospital learning how to eat and walk again.

“The nurses, doctors and all the different therapists were amazing. They made us feel like we were in a safe zone, and they offered services I never thought we needed or knew existed,” says Randy. Family Meals meant a parent could always be with Reece while Child Life supported his siblings.

Reece needed a second surgery in 2017, but the Ravens knew their family was in good hands. “Dr. Iskandar is a miracle maker,” says Randy. “He explains things so a guy like me who’s in finance understands what’s going to happen with my son.” Janielle reflected, “The brilliant nursing care at the children’s hospital made me so proud to be in the nursing profession.”

Reece’s balance is still a bit off, and he’s lost his peripheral vision, but his life is relatively normal. Follow up care includes daily medication, an annual MRI, and appointments with specialists.

The couple established the Randy and Janielle Raven Family Giving Fund, saying: “We can never say ‘thank you’ enough for what American Family Children’s Hospital has done for our family.”

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