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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What: Audacy’s benefiting kicks off Thursday, Feb. 27, and ends Friday, Feb. 28. The radiothon, the Children’s Center’s largest fundraising event of the year, airs on the Baltimore radio station throughout the two days.   

Patients from throughout the U.S. go to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center to receive the highest quality pediatric care. The annual radiothon, which has raised more than $29 million since it began in 1989, and with the generous assistance of donors, makes it possible for physicians, clinicians and staff members to continue providing world-class care to patients, while supporting their families in a time of need. Funds raised in previous years have helped the Children’s Center purchase lifesaving medical equipment, support patient care, fund important research, and develop innovative tools and programs. The funds have also been used to buy books, toys, games, art supplies and more to help make each child’s patient experience more special.

Eight patients and their families will be featured during this year’s radiothon. Among the patients are Asante Wawa-Achayo and Conor Baublitz. Learn about their stories below. 

When: Media are welcome to visit the Children’s Center Thursday, Feb. 27, from 9 to 11 a.m.

Who:  Pediatrician-in-Chief and Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Director, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Where:  1800 Orleans St., Baltimore

RSVP: If you want to visit the radiothon or schedule an interview with Asante, Conor and their families and physicians, please contact Kim Polyniak, communications manager, at 443-510-5807 or [email protected], by Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 3 p.m.

Asante’s Story

When Songo Wawa of Greenbelt, Maryland, was five months pregnant in fall 2023, she went to Sibley Memorial Hospital for what she and her husband, Derrick, thought was a typical fetal scan. But doctors noticed their unborn son, Asante, was “missing” a diaphragm. He was diagnosed with a (CDH), which occurs when a hole does not close during development of a baby’s diaphragm, causing organs in the abdomen — such as the intestines, stomach and liver — to push through the hole, crowding the lungs and preventing them from developing completely. The condition can have serious complications, and it can be deadly.

“When you are hit in the face with this, you want to crumble,” Songo Wawa says. She and Asante needed further care at the .

., the center’s director, performed a surgery on Asante while he was still in the womb, during which a balloon was placed in Asante’s windpipe to allow his lungs to expand. The balloon was removed a few weeks later.

Songo went into labor while 34 weeks pregnant, and Asante was born Jan. 5, 2024. He was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center for specialized care. When 5 days old, Asante had a second procedure. , director of the fetal program in the Division of General Pediatric Surgery, and , performed the surgery to fix Asante’s congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Though Asante required the assistance of additional oxygen and a feeding tube following the surgery, his diaphragm was completely repaired.

Asante, now a 1-year-old who loves Sesame Street and jumping on trampolines, no longer routinely needs oxygen support and can eat by mouth. He follows up regularly with Kunisaki and a team of doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine, including a pulmonologist and cardiologist. Asante also receives physical therapy.

“We are ambassadors of Johns Hopkins, not by choice, but they’ve become an extension of our family,” Songo says. “They’ve touched our lives in ways you can’t even imagine.” 

Conor’s Story

During the summer of 2024, 7-year-old Conor Baublitz of Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, began having severe headaches. On the same day he and his family were to go to an amusement park, Conor got another extremely painful headache.

“We asked if he wanted medicine and to keep going or head to the hospital — he chose the hospital,” his mother, Lindsay Baublitz recalls. “That moment, we knew something was seriously wrong.”

After a series of tests over a few weeks, including an MRI, Conor’s neurologist called to share the upsetting news that Conor had a brain tumor and needed to go to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center that night for further treatment.

“My heart dropped,” Lindsay says.

At the Children’s Center, Conor and his family met , director of pediatric neurosurgery. Further imaging confirmed that Conor had a life-threatening tumor the size of a lemon growing on his brain, and he needed emergency surgery. During the eight-hour procedure, Cohen successfully removed the tumor, and Conor was able to leave the hospital that week. He told his family he finally felt “normal” — there had always been a feeling of pressure in the back of his head, and it was now gone.

Follow-up testing showed that Conor had a benign , a slow-growing type of brain tumor, which could have caused devastating complications due to its size. Several months later, his family says Conor is thriving and enjoying playing the drums, baseball and basketball.

“Johns Hopkins saved our son’s life, and throughout it all, we knew we had the strongest team supporting us every step of the way,” Lindsay says. The Baublitz and Wawa-Achayo families, as well as their doctors are available for interviews. Brenda Banwell, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center co-director, is also available to talk about the radiothon.