Miracles In Motion: Bethany

“I actually started my career as a Child Life Specialist here as a volunteer. This was the first place I ever experienced Child Life. I started volunteering the summer between my junior and senior year of college. I fell in love with the program, went on to train professionally, and 9 or 10 months ago I found out about the job here at UF Health Shands. The person who was my supervisor as a volunteer is now my boss as a professional. So it’s been a full circle moment for me.

When would come in during the mornings to volunteer, I once had a patient who was probably about a year or two. He was burned on over 90% of his body. At first I was so scared to work with him because I didn’t want to hurt him. I ended up carrying him around for most of the morning and playing with him. When I went to leave, he grabbed onto my collar and started to cry because he didn’t want me to leave. That’s when I really realized what a difference play, Child Life, and the volunteers make on these kids. While I couldn’t take away his pain or his situation, for those three hours, he felt loved, secure, and safe.” – Bethany Fisackerly, MS, CCLS (Certified Child Life Specialist), UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital

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Miracles in Motion tells the inspiring stories of our pediatric patient families, clinicians and staff members in their everyday lives. These moments are what make UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital​ such a special place to the more than 150,000 patient families treated here each year. Follow along to learn more about these stories and how Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals​ makes even the most ordinary moments extraordinary.