I started Little Oak with the goal of helping children who require medical care, especially those with complex medical conditions or illnesses, understand and navigate their health.

This organization is named in honor of my son, Ollie, who was born with a severe congenital heart defect. Looking back, it would seem Little Oak was destined to become a reality, even before the notion entered my mind.

In 2008, I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Nursing and began work as a New Graduate in a busy, urban Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. From early on in my career, I faced the extreme difficulties and painful realities that patients and their families experienced. This was also where I began to understand just how resilient and extraordinary children can be, even when facing insurmountable odds. For many years, I cared for children who were critically ill or battling complex medical conditions and provided educational and emotional support for them and their families.

In early 2017, the realities of complex medical conditions hit a lot closer to home for me. My husband Alex and I were thrilled to learn we were expecting our first child, a baby boy named Oliver.

Everything changed at our 20-week ultrasound when we were confronted with the news that there was something wrong with the baby’s heart. Oliver had a severe heart defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome – a condition in which Oliver only has half a functioning heart.

Oliver was born in July 2017 and underwent his first open-heart surgery at just two days old. Unfortunately, Oliver spent the next several months in and out of the hospital struggling through multiple complications and infections. Oliver underwent his second open-heart surgery just before he turned 4 months old. In July 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, Ollie underwent his final palliative heart surgery at the age of three. Oliver, known affectionately as Ollie Tamale, is now a thriving, high-energy, inquisitive little boy – though he still requires regular medical follow-ups for his heart condition.

Oliver, my husband, and I have experienced immense medical trauma throughout his short life.

We used to avoid telling Oliver about upcoming appointments until we were in the car on the way to the appointment in hopes of saving him, and us, the anxiety and fear. Routine appointments became sources of stress, worry, and more trauma for everyone involved as Ollie panicked and struggled against the procedures he needed to keep him healthy.

After one particularly difficult and emotionally draining appointment, I decided something needed to change. Wanting to try to prepare Ollie ahead of time, I began looking for resources or tools I could use to help Oliver understand his condition and feel more comfortable with his medical care; after extensive research, I found nothing.

Frustrated and determined to make things easier for Ollie, I set out to create a story for Ollie about his cardiology appointment and to reframe the experience in a more positive light.

I wish I could adequately put into words what a night and day difference there was between his last appointment and the one when we used the story to prepare him. Ollie was not only ready for his appointment; he was excited to go! And he handled every single part of the appointment so confidently and without fear, that both my husband and I just sat watching him – in awe – of how amazing he was.

It got me thinking that maybe there was something to the idea of preparing him for the inevitable medical appointments he has as part of living with half a heart. After the success of the preparatory storybook with Ollie’s cardiac visit, I decided to put the method to the test in other areas of Ollie’s care – from dental cleanings to starting school for the first time – and each time, Ollie was excited, stress-free, and ready to tackle whatever came next.

With my history as a pediatric intensive care nurse and “medical mom,” I knew firsthand how many patients and families could benefit from such valuable, kid-specific resources available, and the idea of Little Oak Medical Education and Support was born.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the last fifteen years, in both my professional and personal experiences, is children know more than we give them credit for, especially when it comes to their health, even when we think they don’t.

It is a disservice to kids with medical conditions, chronic or acute, to assume they cannot or do not understand their health or do not have a need to understand their medical care. Our job is to help them understand it, in a way that makes sense to them.

Through experience, both lived and learned, Little Oak is dedicated to supporting, nurturing, and equipping children and their families with the tools they need to navigate life with routine medical care, illnesses, or medical conditions. I hope to offer resources like preparatory storybooks, visual schedules, other visual aids, and more to children who require medical care and their families so they don’t have to experience the stress, anxiety, and fear that we did for far too long.

Little Oak operates with its client’s best interests at heart because we are our clients, we’ve walked those same paths. Our work is not done until all children who require medical care, and their families, can flourish.