In partnership with Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, ABC2, WMAR-TV will broadcast a one-hour special that takes a rare glimpse into the medical miracles happening inside the world-renowned pediatric hospital. In the special, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center: Caring for Kids, ABC2 news anchors Kelly Swoope, Roosevelt Leftwich, Megan Pringle, Linda So, and Wyatt Everhart introduce viewers to incredible patients whose survival stories showcase the exemplary faculty and staff at Hopkins Children’s.

The one-hour special premieres on Friday, February 26^th at 8 p.m., with an encore presentation on Saturday, February 27^th at 1 p.m. For the fourth year in a row, ABC2 has generously donated this air time to help raise awareness of the medical miracles that happen at Hopkins Children's every day. 

“People from all over the world come to Baltimore for the care they can provide at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center,” says ABC2 Vice President and General Manager, Bill Hooper. “We are so lucky to have them in our backyard. That’s why, for more than 25 years, ABC2 has been proud to showcase the incredible work these people are doing.”

Scheduled to air the same weekend as the 21st annual Radiothon on MIX 106.5., viewers of the television special will be encouraged to make a donation by calling 410‑823‑1065 or by logging on to www.hopkinskids.org 

“The people at ABC2 are like family to us,” says George Dover, M.D., director and pediatrician-in-chief of Hopkins Children’s. “For more than two decades, they have been going the extra mile to help us continue our top-notch patient care at Hopkins Children’s.”

Featured Stories:

Burn Treatment – Dejae Taylor of Baltimore, MD.

Johns Hopkins Children’s Center has one of the only pediatric burn centers in the mid Atlantic states. The staff is specially trained in every area of burn injury treatment, because these injuries can be devastating for a child. Young  Dejae Taylor found that out when an accidental fire sent her to Hopkins Children’s for a two-week stay that would change her life.

Child Life Specialists at Hopkins.

When people think of vital hospital staff, they usually think of doctors and nurses. But when a patient comes to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, there are other health care professionals who are critically important to the healing process: the  Child Life Specialists.

Chronic Granulomatous Disease – Clayton Cowan of Fulton, MD.

Life was moving along smoothly for the Cowan family of four until 2006 when everything changed for their oldest son,  Clayton. The cause of his consistent fevers remained a mystery until he was transferred to Hopkins Children’s and diagnosed with chronic granulomatous disease.           

Hemangioma – Caelan Donovan of Greenbelt, MD.

Many newborn babies get red growths on their face commonly known as strawberry marks. Most of the time, these facial hemangiomas go away on their own, but that didn’t happen to young  Caelan Donovan. Her case was so severe that it grew into a life-threatening situation that eventually brought her to the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Liver Transplant – Sam Tiemann of Essex, MD.

Sam and his brother, Ben, are twins, but Sam was born with biliary atresia, a life threatening liver disease. While most people in Maryland were dealing with the blizzards of 2010, Sam was facing something much more challenging. He was at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center getting a liver transplant.

Multi-Disciplinary Care – Rumbaugh Family of Westminster, MD.

Johns Hopkins Children’s Center prides itself on its multi-disciplinary care, which means specialists from different divisions working together to help one child get better. No family can speak more to this than the  Rumbaughs of Carroll County. For the past several years, they have been relying on specialists from several different areas at Hopkins Children’s to help them heal their growing family.

Short Bowel Disease – Elizabeth Moler of St. Leonard, MD.

When  Christine Moler was pregnant, a sonogram showed her baby had intestinal complications. Although her family lived two hours away from Baltimore, in Calvert County, the soon-to-be mom was told in order to ensure her babies survival, she needed to deliver at Johns Hopkins so her daughter could be cared for by the experts at Hopkins Children’s.

Traumatic Brain Injury – Ben Sawczuk of Alexandria, VA.

In August of 2007, life changed dramatically for  Ben Sawczuk. He was hit by a car while riding his bike at the beach. Emergency rescue crews flew him by helicopter to Maryland’s only pediatric trauma center, Hopkins Children’s, in Baltimore, a three-hour drive for his family. Fortunately for Ben, quick action by a highly skilled and dedicated trauma and intensive care team gave him a new lease on life.

Weigh Smart – Rashaad Glascow of Baltimore, MD.

Hopkins Children’s has teamed up with the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital to combat a growing epidemic in children: obesity. The Weigh Smart program is a family focused program that is not only helping change children’s lives, it’s also providing researchers with valuable information which could someday pinpoint the genetic origins of obesity. While the research continues, Weigh Smart has already had the best possible outcome for Rashaad Glascow and many more young people like him.

WMAR-TV was the nation’s 11^th television station to air in the nation in 1947.  The station has been the site of many technological breakthroughs: first with a color film processor for television news and production, and the first Zoom camera lens for film and tape cameras. WMAR is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company. 

The E. W. Scripps Company is a diverse media enterprise with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations, and licensing and syndication. The company’s portfolio of media properties includes: Daily and community newspapers and the Washington-based Scripps Media Center, home to the Scripps Howard News Service; 10 broadcast TV stations, including six ABC-affiliated stations, three NBC affiliates and one independent; United Media, a leading worldwide licensing and syndication company that is the home of PEANUTS, DILBERT and approximately 150 other features and comics.