Patients, families, staff, and volunteers came together for the first annual 106.7 LITE FM’s Hope for the Holidays Radiothon at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone. Some grateful families shared their experiences getting lifesaving care at NYU Langone on the air.

Lia Plakas was born with a rare condition where her esophagus was not attached to her stomach. Howard B. Ginsburg, MD, director of the Division of Pediatric Surgery at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital, performed surgery on the infant Lia to correct this birth defect. Lia and her mom, Maria, have since joined the Sala Family Advisory Council and Sala Youth Advisory Council to give feedback to help improve the experience of every patient and family. Lia’s experience has also inspired her to study pharmacology.

The Cahill family spoke to LITE FM about son Patrick’s lifesaving experience at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital after learning that all of his organs were outside of his abdomen during his mother Angela’s pregnancy, a condition known as omphalocele. Upon birth, Dr. Ginsburg operated on Patrick through four surgeries to fit his organs back into his abdomen.

Parents of Faith Abrams shared their experience of her miraculous birth 5 years ago—Faith was born at just 23 weeks and weighed only 15 ounces. Infants born prematurely before 24 weeks have a survival rate between 10 and 20 percent, but NYU Langone staff helped Faith beat the odds.

Learn more from LITE FM about the stories of Lia, Patrick, and Faith.