What do you do when illness stands between you and your senior prom? For one special All Children's patient, the answer was clear. Bring the prom to her.
Two weeks ago, two-time heart transplant patient Stacey Karavokiros was hospitalized for a rejection episode in All Children's Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. While her doctors were working to bring the rejection under control, there's one problem they couldn't fix. Stacey's senior prom was set for Saturday May 10th, and as the date neared it was clear she'd still be in CV-ICU. This was a night she'd been planning for months. She'd even been fitted for a specially-designed red gown courtesy of the American Heart Association's Red Dress Campaign for women's cardiac health awareness.
Stacey's friends decided they wanted to make her part of their prom memories - so 22 of them chartered a party bus to visit All Children's before the Tarpon Springs High School prom began.
Stacey's care team at All Children's decided to turn that visit into a Private Prom, complete with a decorations, a deejay and professional photographer. (Special thanks to Ryan's Designs, Rob Snyder and photographer Steven Widoff for graciously donating their time and services).
It was a magical night that Stacey -- and everyone who attended -- will always remember. For more on the story, check out the St. Petersburg Times article from May 12th entitled "A prom queen holds court."
