Lifesaving, Lifechanging Care for Children

Camryn, Derek, Charlie and Taylor all have one thing in common: Their lives were changed for the better by Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. Join them virtually for one of the region’s biggest and most important events! It’s the 17th Annual Go the Distance Walk, the largest annual fundraiser for Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, the children’s hospital for the Hudson Valley and Fairfield County.

Create a team and walk safe one-mile walk on the course of your choosing anytime between NOW and the end of Sunday, November 7, 2021. Share a photo or video with us and tag @MFCHatWMC.

Opened in 2004. Each year 100,000 children are served by our doctors and have benefited from advanced pediatric care found nowhere else in the region. The demand for these highly specialized services continues to grow. Your Go the Distance Virtual Walk contributions will enhance Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital and advance healing programs for our young patients and their families.

Start building your Go the Distance team today!

Click Here for Team Leader Packet!

Read more about this year’s ambassadors:

Camryn

Camryn, 7, of Fishkill was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease three weeks after birth. In March of 2020, she was diagnosed with Moyamoya Disease, which is a narrowing of blood vessels in the brain. Complications from the two conditions necessitated a stem cell transplant and her oldest sister was her life-changing donor. The Fishkill girl is doing well.

Derek

Derek, 6, of Nanuet was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation, a condition in which brain tissue extends into the spinal canal. In February of 2020 Derek had decompression surgery at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.  The surgery was successful and Derek recovered in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Today, Derek is doing great. He will continue to be monitored.

Charlie

In March of 2020, during the height of COVID Charlie, 13, of Briarcliff Manor, suffered a grand mal seizure ten minutes after waking up. Within that same week Charlie would have four more seizures. The clinical team at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital diagnosed him with Focal Cortical Dysplasia, a benign lesion in his right temporal lobe, likely a congenital condition in Charlie’s case. Charlie was likely born with this condition but it didn’t present itself until 2020. After two surgeries, Charlie is back to school doing what he loves — playing third base and catcher with his team and hanging out with friends and family. Charlie has remained seizure-free!

Taylor

In January of 2019, Taylor, 9, of Fairfield County, got very sick very fast. She was mostly paralyzed and could barely lift a finger. She was taken to her local emergency room and it was determined that she had Strep A, toxic blood, and she was in septic shock. The entire time, she complained about hip/upper thigh pain.

Taylor was diagnosed with flesh eating bacteria and had a large portion of her thigh muscle removed. She spent seven weeks at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, and with the surgeries and the correct combination of IV medications she made a full recovery! Today, Taylor walks, runs, jumps and does everything a child can do. Her family is truly grateful to have their healthy and spunky little girl back!