Mother and daughter, Maria and Vassila (Lia) Plakas sat down with Bob and Christine during our Hope For The Holidays Radiothon and recounted how Hassenfeld Children's Hospital at NYU Langone saved Lia's life 18 years ago.
Lia was born with a rare condition where her esophagus was not attached to her stomach. As an infant, Dr. Ginsburg performed surgery on her to correct this birth defect. Maria remembers what it was like finding out that her newborn baby needs surgery: "It's numbing." She added that coming to NYU Langone, they were surrounded by individuals who had seen this condition before and that made the scariest moment of their lives a lot better.
Having such a large gap of Lia's esophagus missing, only a skilled team could address this and the Plakas family knew where they had to go. Lia's experience inspired her to go into the medical field in college. They are also members of The Sala Institute for Child and Family Centered Care which is a unique partnership between children, families, and health professionals that advances the practice of family-centered care at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone and beyond.
Our Hope For The Holidays Radiothon is really special to the Plakas family because they spent their first Christmas in the hospital.
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