Employee With Down Syndrome Makes History at Boston Children’s Hospital

By Cassy Fiano Chesser
Live Action News

Nathan Simons was originally a patient in the Down syndrome program at Boston Children’s Hospital, but now, he’s an employee, working as a patient liaison. The hospital celebrated his six year anniversary as an employee this week, where he originally started working just eight hours a week. 

But as his supervisors noted his enthusiastic work ethic and the positive effect he had on patients, his hours increased until he became the first full-time employee with Down syndrome in the hospital’s history.

“I just love it! I love the people who come here and give good feedback,” Simons said of his job. “It’s amazing and my parents are like, ‘Yes, Nathan you finally got a full time job! Thank you, Lord!’” 

And while Simons and his family are thrilled about his job, his supervisors seem to be even more excited. 

“He comes to work each day with enthusiasm and provides inspiration and optimism for families with Down syndrome and they look at Nate and see what is possible,” said Dr. Nicole Baumer.

Simons helps new patients and their families, and also helps tackle administrative tasks and paperwork. Originally, the position was meant to be a temporary, two-year position. But hospital administrators were so impressed with Simons that they kept him on, and instead, created a new apprenticeship program for other adults with Down syndrome, and Simons trains and mentors them as they go through the two-year program.

His presence has also been inspirational to the families who come to the program for help. 

“They look up to me because I’m a good role model to them,” he said of children with Down syndrome. “They see me, being independent and living on my own.” 

Baumer agreed. “For families who don’t know a lot about what the future will bring for their children, he shows an example of what things can be like,” she said.

“I just feel proud, very proud, of my job,” he said. “I’m so happy to be here.” His next goal? Marriage to his girlfriend, Logan.

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Baby Oliver Saved in U.S. After UK Doctors Said His Heart Couldn’t be Fixed

By Cassy Fiano
Live Action News

Most parents would readily cross oceans to save their child’s life, with no thought as to the cost or distance. But for some children in the UK, like Alfie Evans and Charlie Gard, that simply wasn’t an option they were given. Oliver Cameron is one of the fortunate ones, though, and thanks to the tireless efforts of his parents and doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital, Oliver is alive and thriving today.

When Oliver was born in the United Kingdom, he had a large, non-cancerous tumor in his heart, called a cardiac fibroma. It was so rare that doctors in the UK weren’t able to treat it. Only a handful had even seen it.

“They couldn’t treat the tumor in the U.K. because they didn’t have any doctors with the right expertise,” his mother, Lydia, said. “They said our only option was a heart transplant, but we thought there must be another route, so we started doing our own research.”

READ: Alfie Evans is just the latest victim in Europe’s culture of death

Their research led them to Boston Children’s Hospital, where another little girl, Francesca, had successfully had her large cardiac tumor removed. Her story was posted on the Boston Children’s Hospital Facebook page the day after Oliver was born, which Lydia took as a sign. So she reached out to Francesca’s doctors, Dr. Pedro del Nido and Dr. Tal Geva, and sent Oliver’s records to them. They responded that he would be a good candidate for the surgery — even though the NHS doctors were insistent that Oliver’s tumor could not be removed. But the difficulties of getting Oliver treatment weren’t over yet; the Cameron family now had to find a way to pay for it.

At first, the NHS refused to pay. 

“Oliver’s cardiologist spent hours of his own time trying to get Oliver to Boston — he kept applying and reapplying for the National Health Service to cover the surgery in the U.S., but with no luck,” Lydia said.

“So, we started our own fundraising campaign, because we had no other way to get him there.” But after they successfully raised most of the money, they got good news: not only would the NHS pay for the surgery, they would also send two cardiologists and a cardiac surgeon to learn from the doctors at Boston Children’s.

In November of 2017, Oliver underwent the eight-hour surgery, which went better than expected. “Dr. del Nido warned us that they may not be able to remove the entire tumor because it was so large, but that he would remove as much as possible,” Lydia explained. “So when they told us he had removed all of it, we were so happy we just burst into tears.”

The tumor ended up being one of the largest the doctors had ever seen.

After the surgery, Oliver continued to stun doctors by making a rapid recovery, and was able to return home by Christmas. “This experience has shown us how much good there is in the world,” Lydia said. “So many people supported us along the way, from near and far. And without Dr. Geva and Dr. del Nido, we would have lost Oliver. Miracles do happen — and we are grateful to be celebrating ours.”

The Camerons were exceedingly fortunate that they were able to bring Oliver to the United States to receive treatment. It’s a blessing not given to everyone, denied most notably to toddlers Charlie Gardand Alfie Evans. 

The parents of both boys were told that treatment was futile and that they should just be allowed to die; when the parents raised money to seek treatment outside of the United Kingdom, hospitals and courts refused to allow it, and forced both boys to be removed from life support.

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