3-year-old Canton girl named 2023 CMN hospital’s ‘Miracle Child’
TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Children’s Miracle Network at CHRISTUS Mother Frances in Tyler selects a ‘Miracle Child’ each year to represent CMN hospitals.
On Monday morning, CHRISTUS introduced a 3-year-old from Canton, Hannah Harlow, as the 2023 Miracle Child. It all began when she was just one year old.
Hannah’s mother, Tabitha Harlow, said, “We started noticing she wasn’t wanting to walk. She always wanted to be carried. And it was about August of 2020, we started noticing something really was wrong.”
A few months later in November, Dr. Ana Alvarez came from New York to Tyler. It just so happened she completed a yearlong study of a rare genetic condition called X-Linked Hypophosphatemic (XLH) Rickets which affects bone mineralization.
“When you have that condition, the bones become weak, fragile, brittle leading to deformities, fractures and extreme pain.” said Dr. Ana Alvarez, pediatric endocrinologist at CHRISTUS Health.
Dr. Alvarez met Hannah when she arrived in Tyler and realized she has this exact condition. Dr. Alvarez calls the encounter a miracle.
She adds, “So basically God put Hannah in my pathway and I was also part of the family’s pathway as well.”
Dr. Alvarez says there is no cure but there is treatment which Hannah received in January of 2021. She will need to continue the medications to keep her bones strong for the rest of her life.
Recent x-rays show the bones in her legs have completely healed and she has caught up with the growth chart.
“We were really worried that she was going to struggle for the rest of her life but almost immediately the injections, she got to start running, playing, going outside and rough housing with her brother. So she immediately got to be a kid.” Mrs. Harlow said.
Hannah is back to dressing up like her favorite Disney princess, and most of all is finally back to just being a kid.
She will make her big debut Thursday night when she lights the Tyler Christmas tree on the square after the city Christmas parade.
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