About Child Life On Call | Medical, Parenting, Healthcare, Grief, Trauma, Pediatrics, Coping Skills, Community & Support
Inside the Children's Hospital shares real stories from parents, caregivers, and pediatric healthcare professionals navigating the emotional realities of caring for a hospitalized child with honesty, compassion, and hope.
When Play Looks Different: Activities for Kids with Disabilities and Medical Needs
For this week's episode, Katie is talking with fellow child-life specialist, Annie "Sunshine" Gunning. For 25 years, Annie has helped adapt typical playtime into something that everyone with different needs, such as children who are nonverbal or wheelchair bound, can enjoy.
Annie gives us insight into how playing through medical experiences like going to a therapy appointment is important for children to understand the world around them. Similarly, Annie leads us into the hospital setting, detailing how play inside the hospital can create positive environments for children, especially for children who are staying for a longer period of time.
Timestamps
1:44 - Intro to Child Life and Play
3:20 - Adapting Play for Children with Disabilities
6:57 - Sibling Interaction and Play
9:03 - Play in Hospital Setting
12:42 - Creative Play for Hospitalized Children
17:45 - The Importance of Play in Medical Experiences
Resources
Annie's Company (https://www.empowerthroughplay.com/)
Hope for HIE (https://hopeforhie.org/)
Annie's Instagram
To listen to more episodes, head to insidethechildrenshospital.com
This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Every child and family is different. Always talk with your child's healthcare team about questions or decisions related to their care.
The experiences and opinions shared by guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of their employers, healthcare organizations, or Inside the Children's Hospital.
7 Oct 2026
Win Bars for LSU Tiger Football and Aplastic Anemia Pediatric Patients
During this week's episode, Katie sits down with Ryan Solieau, an LSU Alum, and dad to a Henry who was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. Aplastic Anemia is a rare blood disorder where bone marrow stops making new red blood cells, which appeared in Henry as a heart rate of 250.
Ryan takes us through the experience of learning a new reality during all phases of Henry's diagnoses, from learning how to navigate Henry's initial hospital stay, all the way to supporting Henry emotionally during his monthly transfusions. In the episode, we also learn from Ryan how crucial it is to take care of oneself in order to be the best advocate for Henry.
Timestamps
1:37 - Intro to Ryan
3:38 - The Hospital Experience: A Second Family
6:24 - The Diagnosis: A Life-Changing Moment
9:38 - Navigating the Medical System
13:49 - Understanding Aplastic Anemia
15:27 - The Roles of Fathers in Caregiving
18:12 - Building Relationships with Hospital Staff
20:44 - Recognizing Emotional Needs
26:40 - Advice for Parents: Seeking Help and Support
35:08 - Fatherhood and Personal Growth
42:01 Navigating Medical Challenges and Triumphs
Resources
https://www.instagram.com/rsoile6
To listen to more episodes, head to insidethechildrenshospital.com
This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Every child and family is different. Always talk with your child's healthcare team about questions or decisions related to their care.
The experiences and opinions shared by guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of their employers, healthcare organizations, or Inside the Children's Hospital.
30 Sept 2026
From Peds Nurse to Cancer Mom: What Helped her Child Cope
Pediatric nurse and mom Brigid shares how her family navigated her son's neuroblastoma diagnosis—with practical guidance on preparing kids for care, accepting support, and finding hope.
Key Topics:
The symptoms that led to Brigid's son's neuroblastoma diagnosis
Going from pediatric nurse to parent receiving life-changing medical news
Using medical play to prepare young children for procedures
Giving children choices and control during repeated medical care
Why slowing down can sometimes make procedures easier
Supporting siblings through a cancer diagnosis
Caring for yourself while caring for a seriously ill child
Asking for and accepting practical support from others
Resources including Beads of Courage, Connecting Champions, and neuroblastoma-specific preparation tools
Timestamps
00:00 - Finding support through childhood cancer stories
01:11 - Brigid introduces her family
01:38 - Penn State THON and supporting families facing cancer
03:21 - The first sign: a persistent limp
04:55 - Night sweats, an ER visit, and the diagnosis
05:18 - Understanding neuroblastoma and treatment
06:31 - Receiving serious news in the hospital where Brigid works
10:28 - Being both mom and medical translator
11:32 - Why preparing children for procedures matters
12:52 - Medical play and repeated procedures
14:08 - Choices, breaks, and helping kids feel more in control
15:09 - Practicing dressing changes through play
16:49 - Why faster isn't always easier for kids
18:34 - The hard days and emotional toll of treatment
20:36 - Stem cell transplant and the hardest phase of treatment
21:34 - Prayer, gratitude, and staying grounded
25:31 - Simple medical play using things you already have
27:58 - Explaining cancer to siblings
28:28 - Bringing support into a sibling's school
31:12 - Child life tools that can help with procedures
34:09 - Taking cancer treatment one hurdle at a time
35:22 - What asking for help looked like for Brigid's family
39:36 - Connecting Champions and identity beyond cancer
41:00 - Beads of Courage
42:01 - Neuroblastoma resources and medical play tools
43:32 - What Brigid learned about control, patience, and time
To listen to more episodes, head to insidethechildrenshospital.com
This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Every child and family is different. Always talk with your child's healthcare team about questions or decisions related to their care.
The experiences and opinions shared by guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of their employers, healthcare organizations, or Inside the Children's Hospital.
Inside a recent episode
Pyroxd1 and the Path Forward: A Rare Disease, a Life-Saving Lesson & a Mission to Help Others- Maria + Matt's Story (246)
Published 19 Mar 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] And in 20 to $25 ,000 tranches, we release it to them as they're progressing through their research. So they never have to worry about money. They can just focus on what they're doing, but they don't get the next step until they hit the last benchmark. So it's not just this, here's all your money, but we were an angel investor. We took a business, yeah, again. Investing into a startup with getting a minimal viable product, that these words make sense to anybody, then they can go to like a VC, a venture capital, isn't getting a big investment to then take it and run it to scale. So we started it that, and that was the first thing take part started doing. […]
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