Alexis Paul

Alexis’ story starts at birth. From the moment she was born, we knew she was special. They called in Dr. Anthony Persyzk, who at that time was associated with Nemours Children’s Clinic and Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Dr. Persyzk immediately started tests at Wolfson Children’s (MRI, X-rays, bloodwork and more). 

Alexis was born with microcephaly and was missing parts of her brain. At the age of one month, she was admitted for a spider bite. Thankfully while we were at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, doctors found out Alexis had beta strep.

Alexis bounced back from that very quickly with the help of Wolfson Children’s Hospital’s staff and doctors. She was diagnosed very early on with tracheomalacia and Striders. She was often admitted for breathing problems with croup, but thank God she outgrew that.

When she was 2, we took her to the ER, where she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and admitted for a few weeks. The staff was very helpful because it took me so long to be able to give her a shot of insulin and to get certified in her care.

We had to come back about six months later when Alexis developed a complication with her blood sugars. She had become insulin-resistant, which caused her to develop ketoacidosis; she went into a diabetic coma. It took doctors numerous days and nights to figure that one out (that is when she was insulin-resistant). After that, it was just in and out of the hospital, a lot for your typical problems where they would keep her overnight 90% of the time just to make sure that it wouldn’t complicate her other medical issues. They were always cautious when it came to Alexis. Sometimes we wished we could just take Alexis home, but after it was all said and done, we were always grateful for the Wolfson doctors’ and staff’s knowledge when it came to Alexis.

The last hospital stay was in December 2010, when Dr. Eric Loveless performed a spinal fusion to correct Alexis’ scoliosis. She did amazing and was out of the hospital in seven days when we were all prepared for her to stay in the hospital for a few weeks. We always stayed on the Endocrine floor except the last time Alexis was hospitalized. Wolfson released her straight from the PICU. She always enjoyed the playrooms on all the floors and the volunteers that would come and color or read to her. She would always leave there with new toys and new blankets; she often received so much stuff that she didn’t want to leave. She loved getting new things every day.

I would like to thank Wolfson Children’s Hospital for their diligence of care and for saving her life more times than I can count. They have truly blessed me with the assisted care of my special needs child. My miracle baby. It’s amazing to get to see her and her smile.

Nicole Paul
Alexis’ Mom

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