Hope and Puppy Love for Ellie

Ellie loves animals. Her cats, Buddy and Sweetie, have comforted her over a lifetime of challenging medical issues. Ellie has a rare form of dysautonomia, a general term for disorders of the autonomic nervous system. Her condition impacts many body systems and functions such as blood pressure, heart rate and digestion. She has 19 specialists at Children's National, including our cardiology, gastroenterology, rheumatology and hematology teams.

Ellie has had 42 hospitalizations (9 at Children’s National) and has spent more than 300 nights in the hospital. She visits our main campus every other week for eight hour infusions.

Ellie's complex care also involves support from our Child Life and Integrative Care Team, including our certified child life specialist team, as well as art, music and pet therapies. "Having these services makes a huge difference," says her mom, Kristen. "They give her something to look forward to and motivate her to get out of bed and keep moving. As a huge animal lover, she especially loves pet therapy visits and feels like each of the dogs is there just to see her."

During pet therapy visits, Ellie snuggles with dogs and enjoys quiet conversations and laughs. Facility dogs and volunteer therapy dogs help her stay calm, lower her blood pressure and give her a bit of normalcy. "In my heart, they're all mine," she says.

In February, Ellie went through a procedure that her mom says was one of the hardest ever: a 30-hour gastrointestinal diagnostic test that involved placing a sensor and tube in Ellie's nose to track her digestive system. "It was very, very uncomfortable for her," Kristen says. "Knowing a dog would visit her afterward got her through."

A facility dog team arrived soon after Ellie's team removed the tube. At that moment, Ellie went from silent and miserable to giggling, smiling and petting the dog. "Ellie's team does everything they can to help her feel better," says Kristen, whose family fundraises for the hospital through the Race for Every Child. "Children's National has given us so much hope in so many ways."