Hannah Huth
When eleven-year-old Hannah was younger she decided she wanted to be a "baby doctor" when she grew up. Thanks to the dedicated doctors at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Hannah is on her way to reaching that dream.
When Hannah was three years old, she was diagnosed with a craniopharyngioma brain tumor. After surgery and extensive treatment administered at Children's Hospital her tumor was removed. Then at the age of 6, the doctors at Children’s Hospital found a second tumor. They removed it with a state-of-the-art procedure called radiostatic surgery. Now five years later she is tumor free! She is a fantastic 5th grade student at Oak Hill School.
Hannah is giving back to Children's Hospital as a published author and illustrator. She has written two books, "Hannah's Story" and "Tangles" to raise money for the hospital and to help other sick children feel more comfortable about hospitalization. She has also organized a DVD Drive to provide entertainment for patients staying at the hospital. Finally, Hannah is our “founding member” of the Vanderbilt University Dance Marathon Miracle Family program, attending every Dance Marathon from the very beginning.
Hannah with her mother, Beth
Hannah with her sister and her father, Michael
The Amazing Hannah B. Huth!
A perpective from the Huth Family
When you walk into the wonderful world of parenthood all you can do is think of fuzzy blankets, snuggly rompers, unique baby names and soft pink cheeks. Not once does it ever cross a new parents mind that there will ever be challenges. I remember thinking my baby will never even get a cold or an ear infection – NO, my baby will be the picture of health, just like myself and her daddy.
All of those romantic thoughts came true! On July 29th, 1997 we gave birth to an utterly perfect 7 pound 9 ounce snuggly pink cheeked bundle of joy. Man, was she amazing! She made us catch our breaths with her each and every move. We were working at peak performance with less than four hours of sleep per night, with smiles on our faces – something that would never be possible in pre-parenthood. We could not imagine life before Hannah B. Huth.
As Hannah grew, learned to crawl, learned to pull up and eventually walk she did it all with sheer perfection (in our eyes). We trembled through one ear infection in her first three years of life and swore that we would never let her out of the house tplay with another runny nosed kid again!
Hannah had a smile that could stop a train and eyes that were so large they were windows into her soul. All we saw was a happy, bright and delightful baby – our amazing Hannah B. Huth.
Just after Hannah’s third birthday the windows to her soul started looking sad. Hannah did not want to eat, she did not want to walk, she no longer wanted to read books or color. We drove ourselves insane trying to determine the cause of this drastic change. We crawled throughout the house looking for a gas leak, we searched her body for a bug bite, we took her to the doctor seven times in five days – and were left without an answer.
On the eighth doctor visit I broke down in tears and begged them to do something more than diagnose her with a “virus”. They finally agreed to do an MRI – just in case.
Tightly holding hands we walked into Vanderbilt for the first time in our lives. It was October 17th (we will never forget). We were directed back toward imaging and Hannah was gently taken for her first ever MRI. Within two hours we experienced a parents worst nightmare. We were told Hannah had a Craniopharyngioma brain tumor and that she was in critical need of immediate attention. Within what seemed like minutes a Neurologist, a Neurosurgeon and several specialists counseled us. Hannah was taken from the imaging unit right to pediatric intensive care to wait until her surgery the next morning.
As we held one another in shock and waited for it all to sink in we found a strange sense of peace in knowing that God had placed us in a city were there exists a hospital with nothing but the best.
I cannot stress to you enough the importance of Vanderbilt. The technology, talent and systems that are housed there are amazing and life saving devices. Our sweet pink cheeked daughter would not be where she is and as well as she is today if it weren’t for the people and technology at Vanderbilt.
Now twenty months after her surgery Hannah attends school, plays the violin, swims, runs, reads and laughs. She continues to see the amazing people (we call them family now) at Vanderbilt for her Endocrinology, MRI’s and Neurology needs and smiles as she walks in the door.
If you ask Hannah what she wants to be when she grows up she quickly answers, “a doctor for babies.” If you ask her why she says, “Because I want to be like the doctors at Vanderbilt. I want to make kids feel better and make sure they are not scared.”
Thanks to Vanderbilt and it’s generous supporters we still have an Amazing Hannah B. Huth!
All our love,
The Huth Family
P.S. if you ever find yourself looking at situation thinking, “thank God that will never happen to me” – think again. Please find it in yourself to be as giving to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital as they have been to our family. The “never” happened when we least expected it – thank God for the miracle of Vanderbilt!
