UAMS Pediatrics - KIDS FIRST Program

Angela Remley is a longtime veteran of KIDS FIRST.

She first learned about the program ten years ago, when her son Kendrey was born premature and weighed just two pounds. A social worker at Arkansas Children's Hospital recommended that Angela look into KIDS FIRST to help with any developmental challenges that lay ahead.

Shawn and Lesli Fason always knew they wanted a child. They also knew it would never be an easy journey for them.

Shawn had undergone chemotherapy at a young age to treat neuroblastoma, a form of childhood cancer. As a result, the Fasons were unable to conceive children naturally. They were discouraged by the difficulty of private adoption and hesitated to start the process. But Shawn and Lesli possessed deep faith and believed they would eventually receive a child. 

On the day after Easter in 2008, the couple got a strange phone call from a friend.

Carley Smay was born in Huntington Beach, California, at a healthy 7 lbs, 3 oz, in September of 2005.

But within three weeks of her homecoming, her mother, Kim, could see that something was very wrong.

"She was laboring too hard to breathe," Kim recalled. "I took her to the pediatrician, who said she probably had croup and to give her cool, moist air."

Kim tried the home treatment for one day. When it failed, she brought Carley to the emergency room.

Ethan Fedder is four years old. He does not walk or speak. He has a lot of tantrums, and he has difficulty paying attention for very long.

Looking at him, a stranger might not realize what a monumental journey this boy's family has undertaken, or how incredibly far he has come since he started KIDS FIRST.