Hi, I’m Megan and this is my family. Caden, Quinn, Parker and Ryan.
Parker was born with protruding ears. I remember being at the hospital when she was born and we asked our pediatrician about it. She mentioned that the umbilical cord had been wrapped around her for so long that maybe it changed her ear structure. The doctor thought Parker was possibly pinned in the womb and that’s how her ears developed and that they should go back. This never happened.
I typically always styled her hair down to hide her ears and never put it in a pony-tail. I would notice people would make comments about her ears. It was a sensitive subject. We were intent on helping Parker and that’s when we asked our pediatrician about it.
She suggested we check out Shriners Children’s Ohio, a medical godsend of which we knew nothing about. Our pediatrician said that Shriners provided some financial assistance to those in need. We assumed we wouldn’t qualify. We began to save for the surgery. When I got an appointment at Shriners “I talked to them, and I was so impressed. They told me at my first appt there was a three-month wait for surgery, but as the nurse walked out, she said they’d call us with a surgery time.
I said, ‘Wait, are you going to tell me how much this is going to cost? We’ve only saved a certain amount of money.” And she replied, “Oh, it’s covered by Shriners. You didn’t know that?”
I had no idea and I just started crying and I hugged her. It was such a relief.
My husband was diagnosed in 2021 with Stage 4 prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones. Since then we have paid tens of thousands of dollars to his medical bills and receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic. To have Parker’s surgery covered and be able to use that money elsewhere was amazing for our family.
On September 11, 2023, Parker had her otoplasty surgeries that restructured her ears and drew them closer to her head. Parker and I were both nervous but every nurse and employee at Shriners was so reassuring and so kind. Parker loved being doted on and all the individualized attention she received. That first day back to school, she had me pull her hair all the way back into a ponytail. She wanted to show her ears off to her friends and classmates. I knew in that moment that we made the right choice.
A couple days later Jessica, who is Marketing for Shriners Children’s Ohio, reached out to us about Parker becoming a Patient Ambassador for Shriners.
The first activity as an ambassador was the Charleston Classic Basketball Tournament in South Carolina. This tournament was a great spot for Parker to make an impact and share her story. She proudly wore her Shriners gear and spoke to as many people as she could about her surgery and the wonderful hospital staff at Shriners.
She has recently attended a Dayton Dragons game where she threw the first pitch for a Shriners fundraiser. She brought 40 family and friends to support her and had the best time at the game!
Events like these help build Parker’s confidence while also helping spread the word of the services that Shriners provide.
Since our surgery, Parker’s confidence has increased so much. She tells others how she is “famous” because of all her likes on Instagram and Facebook. She also boasts about her YouTube video. Speaking of which, we’ve learned so much about Shriners from the Facebook pages and all of the wonderful improvements they have made to other children’s lives. We feel fortunate to be part of the Shriners family and were so excited to share our story with all of you. | 
