In January 2023, six-year-old Kaslyn D. suffered from a series of cardiac and neurological emergencies. She was rushed to Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and required several surgeries and treatment. During her time at CHOC, Kaslyn went into cardiac arrest multiple times. Thanks to the life saving measures offered by her stellar care team, Kaslyn was stabilized and sent HealthBridge Children’s Hospital (HBOC) on March 3.

When she was admitted to HealthBridge, Kaslyn was non-ambulatory, non vocal, and unable to fulfill the simplest of tasks like sitting up and eating without extensive assistance. With aggressive physical, speech and occupational therapy while at HealthBridge, Kaslyn was eventually able to return home in May.

While at HBOC, an integrated team of specialized rehabilitation professionals began working with her on every part of her interdisciplinary care plan.

Thanks to ongoing intensive physical therapy, after one month, Kasyln was able to walk out of the facility with minimal assist. The team of speech therapists was concerned with Kaslyn’s vocabulary upon admittance to HealthBridge. Her speech was limited to 1-2 word repetitive phrases, but when she went home she was able to speak in simple sentences and communicate her needs. Our occupational therapy team spent countless hours working with her to improve her range of motion and develop compensatory strategies for her vision loss. By the time she left our facility, she was able to play with toys, brush her own hair and blow kisses.

In addition to intensive rehabilitation therapy, the HealthBridge team credits Kasyln’s miraculous improvement to a variety of factors: the significant and successful foundation created by the clinical team at CHOC; Kaslyn’s strong will, bravery and positive attitude; and Kasyn’s family who never gave up on her.

To read more about Kaslyn’s entire healthcare journey from Children’s Hospital of Orange County, click below.