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Gratitude for a granddaughter’s care

One-year-old Addison Bledsoe is all smiles now.Addison Bledsoe celebrated her first birthday on Halloween. She's "quite the little beauty" and is learning to walk and talk, according to her grandparents, Eric and Rebecca Hinshaw.

But just a year ago this past December, Addison's survival was touch and go. At age five weeks, she caught a bad cold. Her six-pound body was not able to clear fluid from her lungs, and she wound up in a Charlotte, North Carolina, hospital on a ventilator.

"She had very little breathing capacity. She was going downhill quickly, even with oxygen," says Rebecca, a former neonatal nurse.

It was a windy day and Duke's helicopters were unable to land in Charlotte, so Addison was transported to Duke Children's by ambulance. She spent the next three weeks, through Christmas and New Year, in Duke Hospital's pediatric intensive care unit.

Eric Hinshaw, chairman and CEO of Kingsdown mattress company in Mebane, North Carolina, has been a benefactor of Duke Children's for more than 15 years, serving on the Children's National Board of Advisors and sponsoring company fund-raising events for the Children's Miracle Network.

In honor of Addison, the Hinshaws and Kingsdown recently made a commitment to provide a total of $225,000 - $75,000 a year over three years - to support a Duke pediatric fellow.

The fellow, Brian Tinch, MD, is conducting research on pediatric pulmonary diseases, including RSV, the condition Addison suffered. In adults and older children, RSV feels like nothing more than a bad head cold. But some normal-term babies and many premature babies experience life threatening pneumonia-like complications.

The Hinshaws enjoyed getting to meet Tinch and hearing about his research. "It's remarkable the changes and new developments we see every time we visit Duke Children's," says Rebecca.

"We are very lucky to have what I consider to be one of, if not the, premier children's institutions in the country in our community, the community where the employees of my company live," says Eric. "No matter how grave or how minor the situation, they give their patients the same amount of love and expert care."