2015 Family Advocacy Day Hero -- Cailinn

When Cailinn was born, she was diagnosed with a rare type of unbalanced chromosomal translocation, where parts of two chromosomes—5q and 9p—swapped places in her genome. Only the third case to ever be diagnosed with this type of genetic arrangement, doctors did not expect her to live past 8 weeks of age. Now 7 years old, Cailinn has since undergone more than two dozen surgeries and procedures, and has been in the hospital for more than 400 days, most of which was in her first 3 years. Even after all of her time at the hospital, she still gets excited to go to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, where the staff has become like an extended family.

Cailinn has beaten the odds at every turn. She is walking, eating and learning to talk, none of which was expected. Today she is a happy and energetic child who loves everyone she meets. She enjoys going to school, reading books and watching Elmo and Cat in the Hat. Cailinn also loves chasing her dog Brophy around the house and playing on her swing set.