You know how some things are sweeter because you had to wait so long to get them? Something you dreamt up, worked hard for, had to convince others about? When the planning, waiting, anticipating is finally over and it finally comes to fruition the feeling is indescribable.
That’s how we felt on Friday when David McHugh (Swifty youth board member), Al and I met Kayleigh Eisenstein, the Tissue Navigator at Lurie Children’s Hospital! Yes, the position at Luries many of you helped fund through our Annual Appeal last year!
It’s no longer a dream or just a job description…. The Tissue Navigator position has been filled by an incredible woman, Kayleigh Eisenstein. We believe Lurie could not have gotten a better fit for this position. In our time with her, Kayleigh displayed such warmth, intelligence, compassion and understanding of what we are trying to achieve with the Navigator position.
You may recall Kayleigh will be companioning families from diagnosis, educating them about the precious resource their child’s tissue is for their child and for researchers seeking a cure. She will be educating the physicians, caregivers and families about the need for post mortem tissue if the child’s cancer is incurable. Kayleigh will help facilitate these donations and donations from smaller hospitals that do not have research labs.
As I said in my last blog, we have been told repeatedly that tissue is fundamental to the work that will lead to the cure for cancer. Without tissue, studies cannot be done. Swifty is working hard to ensure researchers have the precious tissue they need and children and families have the comfort of knowing that although they were taken too soon, their child will continue to contribute in this world in important ways. Kayleigh will help make that possible.
Here are a few words from Kayleigh:
Hello! My name is Kayleigh Eisenstein and I am the new Tissue Navigator at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. I received my master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Chicago in May 2018. During my graduate coursework, I interned in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and focused on crisis management and positive coping strategies with families.
When I learned about the Tissue Navigator position, I was excited about the opportunity to be a part of something truly innovative and impactful. I am passionate about empowering families in challenging situations and working with families around end of life legacy building. By providing families with the option to donate their child’s tissue to research, we hope to empower families in helping the medical field better understand how to find better treatments for children who will have the same diagnosis in the future. Being part of navigating this process alongside families is truly an honor and I am grateful to the Swifty Foundation for the opportunity to work towards medical advancements in the pediatric neuro-oncology field.
