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Reason to cheer: 7th-grader embraces new medical center
BY THAD JOSEPH, Staff Writer
Take one look at this bright and bubbly, red-headed fireball of energy, and you would never have a clue that Mackinlee Waddell has any underlying physical ailment.
Mackinlee, a 12-year old seventh-grader at Celina Middle School, is not only an ambassador for the new Children’s Medical Center Legacy, but is also one of many children and their parents, calling the new facility a blessing.
More than 65 pairs of safety scissors snipped through the bright red ribbon outside Plano’s newest hospital the morning of Sept. 25, as the celebration of a project several years in the making came to a full completion.
Mackinlee was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when she was 2 months old. She has been treated with medication since then. When she turned 5, her mitral valve started to leak severely because it had been stretched from the cardiomyopathy. Doctors performed open heart surgery to place a ring around the valve to correct the leak, which improved her function greatly. and she continues to be monitored by her cardiologist at Children’s.
When asked what she though about the new hospital being so close to her, she commented, “I just love Children’s and am very happy that I can get back to school quickly from my appointments.”
Her mother, Susie Waddell, echoed the sentiments.
“It is wonderful that we have a new facility so close, where we can still receive the amazing care that is given in Dallas, but now so much closer to home. We also love that Mackinlee can see her cardiologist in Plano, as opposed to driving all the way downtown. The appointments used to take us all day, but now she can get in and out in just a couple of hours.”
Children’s Medical Center, an almost 100 year old pediatric healthcare provider in Dallas, has now expanded. The new facility is the only academic healthcare system in the region focused solely on pediatrics. It is associated with UT Southwestern Medical Center.
“Children’s Medical Center Legacy is a reality because our area pediatricians needed it, the community invested in it and, most importantly, the children deserve it,” said Christopher J. Durovich, president and CEO of the new center.
Located just about a quarter of a mile south of the Preston Road and State Highway 121 interchange off Preston, it has been a dream in the making for quite some time. The new center launched into a reality because of the support of 51 founding families and organizations that committed at least $100,000 to the $15 million “wePromise” campaign to build, equip, and staff the hospital.
Children’s Legacy opens with 24 inpatient beds, but can be quickly expanded to 72. It also is equipped with an emergency room, four operating rooms, four procedure rooms and a dedicated transport service. Ancillary services, such as laboratory and radiology, also operate 24 hours a day.
Their Ambulatory Care Pavilion, which moved to the new hospital campus in April, has been providing outpatient services in Plano for the past two years and now offers the largest suburban group of pediatric specialists in the nation. Most of the 30,000 patient visits to Children’s Dallas from patients in the Legacy region each year are outpatient in nature.
Mackinlee said she loves attending Camp Moss for a week each summer. The camp is designed for children who have had open heart surgery. It is just like any other summer camp for children, and all the staff members are volunteers from Children’s Medical Center, including all the nurses and cardiologists. They all give up a week of their vacation time to spend with the campers. Mackinlee has made several friends at the camp and they all have similar stories of their conditions.
Mackinlee’s heart condition has not stopped her playing sports. She is also a seventh-grade cheerleader, cheerleads competitively in Frisco and plays volleyball and basketball.
She has another honor to add to her being a Children’s miracle story and one of the 65 picked for the ribbon cutting. This year, she was selected to be the patient ambassador for the Texas Stampede Rodeo in November. She will ride on a stage coach with the grand marshal during a cattle drive in downtown Dallas in October, and then will attend the Rodeo all three nights in November.
Mackinlee said she feels honored to be picked for this event, and is so appreciative for all they have done for her. She wanted to give back to the hospital and staff for all their help and love, so she started giving speeches for Children’s at many events the past four years.
The new hospital’s mission is basic and simple: to provide a facility for families and to make life much better for children.
Children’s Medical Center Legacy and Mackinlee appear to be the perfect match.
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