Happy New Year from Akron Children’s and a Warm Welcome to Our 2024 Local Champion: Lucas Paskiet!

Happy New Year from Akron Children’s! What an incredible year 2023 was thanks to our incredible CMN corporate partners. I want to kick off the year with a blog post introducing our incredible 2024 Local Champion: Lucas Paskiet!

Lucas Paskiet was 4 days old when he underwent emergency open-heart surgery to correct a congenital heart defect. After spending another 4 months in Akron Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and undergoing a second open-heart surgery, a tracheotomy, and getting a feeding tube inserted, Lucas was able to go home. “When we got to take Lucas home, I was a bit sad to say goodbye to all of the people we had spent time with at Akron Children’s,” said Lucas’s father, Dave Paskiet. “They had become like family to us, and even more importantly, they saved our little boy.” Now 12, Lucas no longer needs a ventilator or feeding tube (and hasn’t for years). He’s an energetic boy who loves playing soccer and swimming, and his doctors at Akron Children’s say he likely won’t have any future issues because of his heart condition. Dave had been involved with Extra Life before Lucas was born, but after Lucas’s birth and hospitalization, Dave said it became a cause that’s very close to his heart. “When I learned that they were starting a guild for Akron Children’s, I knew I had to take part and take my involvement with Extra Life to the next level,” Dave said. “It has become a meaningful way for me to say thank you to the hospital that did so much for my son.”

Thank you to all our incredible CMN Corporate Partners that made 2023 such an incredible year. Here is to 2024!