Treating the Whole Child Kennedy Krieger’s hospital helps kids like Leo and Serenity reclaim their lives after AFM. Here’s how.
Four years ago, Leo moved with his family to Baltimore from Greece to receive treatment at Kennedy Krieger Institute for acute flaccid myelitis, also known as AFM. At the time, he’d been in a hospital for a year in Athens, his body was almost fully paralyzed, and he needed a ventilator to breathe. The plan was for Leo to stay at Kennedy Krieger’s inpatient hospital for four or five months—until the spring of 2020. But when the COVID-19 pandemic restricted international travel, his time at Kennedy Krieger lengthened. That’s when the Institute’s inpatient hospital became Leo’s “second home,” say his parents, Kostas and Eleftheria. For nearly a year, Leo received daily physical, occupational, respiratory and speech therapies from his interdisciplinary team. He improved so much that his parents decided to stay in Baltimore. In September of 2020, he left Kennedy Krieger’s hospital for his family’s new home just a few miles away. Since then, he has returned to Kennedy Krieger a few weeks each year for a therapy boost. “His favorite therapy is aquatic therapy,” Eleftheria says. “In the pool, he can move his arms and legs in the water. He really enjoys it.”
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