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Fueled by Hope: How Andrew Returned to the Game After Perthes

Fueled by Hope: How Andrew Returned to the Game After Perthes

by | Nov 4, 2025 | Hip Disorders

Previously published in Rite Up, 2025 – Issue 3

The hope of winning is what fuels 10-year-old Andrew, a passionate multisport athlete of Redmond, Oregon. He always plays with a heart full of ambition, unaware that this same spirit would be a guiding force throughout his treatment process.

In second grade, Andrew developed pain in his knee and began to limp. A local provider diagnosed him with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease, or Perthes disease, a rare childhood hip disorder. The condition affected the ball of Andrew’s right hip joint. The blood supply to the ball of his hip joint was disrupted, which caused his bone to die in a process known as osteonecrosis.

“We were devastated,” says Megan, Andrew’s mother. “I watched Andrew’s heart break right in front of me, especially when we learned he couldn’t play sports for a while. I didn’t know how we would get through this.”

Initially, Andrew underwent surgery and wore a cast, but his condition did not improve. Megan searched for other treatment options and discovered Harry Kim M.D., M.S., a world-renowned expert in Perthes disease and director of the Center for Excellence in Hip at Scottish Rite for Children.

After a flight from Oregon to Dallas, Andrew’s family found solutions to their son’s condition at Scottish Rite. Andrew underwent a perfusion MRI that revealed he had only 30% to 40% of blood flow to the ball of his hip joint. Dr. Kim performed surgery on Andrew’s thigh bone and repositioned the ball of his femur into the hip socket. Then, he installed metal plates and screws to stabilize the hip and promote blood flow.

“In older patients like Andrew, surgery reduces the chance of needing additional surgeries later on,” Dr. Kim says. “Some people assume Perthes disease negatively affects children’s lives. However, families should always stay hopeful. With the right treatment, we can help children return to the activities they love.”

After a year of healing, Dr. Kim cleared Andrew to walk, run and play again. Andrew made a grand return to his Little League team and continues his path of becoming a sports legend, thanks to the hope his care team and family kept throughout his care.

“Dr. Kim is not just knowledgeable about Perthes disease, but he also understands the mental toll it takes on kids and their families,” Megan says. “You can feel Dr. Kim’s passion. It’s not just his job — it’s his calling. Thanks to Scottish Rite, I finally can relax because I know Andrew is in the best hands.”

WFAA: Scottish Rite’s Luke Waites Center Drives Dyslexia Research and Education

WFAA: Scottish Rite’s Luke Waites Center Drives Dyslexia Research and Education

by | Nov 3, 2025 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders, Press Coverage

WFAA recently featured the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children in honor of Dyslexia Awareness Month.

For more than 60 years, the Center has transformed the lives of children with dyslexia through innovative, research-based programs like the Dyslexia Laboratory School and the Take Flight curriculum.

Developed and piloted at Scottish Rite, these programs provide individualized instruction that builds reading skills, confidence, and independence. Now implemented in districts like Fort Worth ISD, their impact continues to grow.

Watch the full story on WFAA here.

Chaplaincy Care: Nurturing the Human Spirit

Chaplaincy Care: Nurturing the Human Spirit

by | Oct 30, 2025 | Spotlight

Previously published in Rite Up, 2025 – Issue 3

Chaplaincy Care is a meaningful part of life at Scottish Rite for Children, and it is available to everyone. This service provides spiritual, religious, emotional and cultural support to patients, families and staff members. This year, Scottish Rite celebrates its first full-time chaplain, Jerilynn Putnam, MA/TH, MA/PM.

“Through chaplaincy care, I build relationships with individuals,” Putnam says. “By meeting an individual where they are, I learn how they seek and express meaning and purpose and the way their experience connects to the moment, to self, to others, to nature and to the significant or sacred.”

Patient Norah engages in a creative intervention with Jerilynn Putnam as her, Julie, observes.

Patient Norah engages in a creative intervention with Jerilynn Putnam as her mother, Julie, observes.

Putnam’s day begins by checking on the Inpatient Unit overnight staff members. Next, she supports the pre-op nurses and those who prepare patients for surgery. She also meets with patients in pre-op, offers hospitality and discerns their needs. “When prayer is important to them, then I pray with them before they go into surgery,” Putnam says.

Putnam loves to share her creativity and spiritual interventions with the patients and caregivers staying in the Inpatient Unit. She builds rapport and trust, fosters a nurturing environment, connects with the child and invites them to examine how they feel about themselves and about being in the hospital. Often, her encounters reveal a patient’s values, worldview and a desire for prayer. “It’s the child’s choice, and I respect what they need on that particular day,” Putnam says. “My role helps ensure that we care for the whole child, not only physically but also spiritually and religiously, when requested.”

In Sunday Chapel Circles, patients and their caregivers may participate in Godly Play. This intervention helps support everyone’s spiritual journey by inviting them to make meaning through story, wonder and play. Putnam also recognizes interfaith religious events and holidays in the chapel by offering a rite, ritual or reflection. Blessing of the Hands is a very special ceremony that Putnam may perform anywhere at Scottish Rite. With outstretched hands, she blesses surgeons, nurses and therapists whose receptive palms face open to the sky.

Jerilynn Putnam prays with Scottish Rite for Children's staff members.
Get to Know Our Staff: Ava Davis, Movement Science Lab

Get to Know Our Staff: Ava Davis, Movement Science Lab

by | Oct 28, 2025 | Sports Medicine, Spotlight

What is your job title/your role at Scottish Rite?
I am a biomechanist for the Movement Science Lab (MSL) in Frisco. I help with a range of things, like collecting data, analyzing data, processing data and reporting findings. I support the MSL team in writing manuscripts and hosting large team testing events. I am willing to help and learn anything to benefit our team.

What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
The most fulfilling part of my job is researching such important yet unknown topics. For example, one of our research focuses involves female athletes. It feels great to be able to give these athletes our findings. When I was an athlete, research was not applied to sports as much. It feels rewarding to be able to give current athletes the knowledge I didn’t have. The entire MSL team is making an impact, and I feel lucky to be a part of it.

What makes Scottish Rite a special place to you?
Scottish Rite feels very family oriented. Everybody I have encountered is welcoming and supportive, which can be rare in some fields. Scottish Rite also gave me my first job in the biomechanics research field, which has presented so many opportunities I never would have thought of.

What made you choose a career in health care?
I grew up playing competitive volleyball, and with that, I got injured a lot. I wanted to have a job where I could figure out how these injuries happen and what could be done to reduce injuries in sports. I found out I liked the research side of sports when I went to graduate school.

What is something unique you get to do in your position?
The most unique part of my job is that every day is so different. Some days, we are doing data collections in the lab on multiple patients who have anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Other days, I am working at my desk or out in the field conducting tests on athletes. Our team gets to see both healthy athletes and athletes with injuries, which I think is unique!

What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?
I enjoy lifting weights and spending time with my fiancé, Logan, alongside our dog and cat!

Do you have any hidden talents?
I memorized a bunch of digits of the number pi in sixth grade for extra credit, and I haven’t forgotten them.

Where are you from, and what brought you to DFW?
I am originally from Greensboro, North Carolina. I attended graduate school at Auburn University in Alabama and worked in their sports biomechanics lab. I found the opportunity to work for Scottish Rite’s MSL department and knew it would align with my goals. I saw Texas for the first time when I moved here for this job!

If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
I would go to Italy. My mom and I have always dreamed of going together, and it would feel rewarding to take her one day and enjoy all the pasta and wine.

If you had to pick one meal to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I would have a burrito bowl. I make and eat them almost every day already, and I have not gotten tired of it yet!

What movie do you think everyone should watch at least once?
“It’s A Wonderful Life”

What is the first concert you attended?
My first concert was to Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana.

If you were to have a movie based on your life, which actress/actor would you choose to play your character?
Blake Lively

What is some advice you would give your younger self, OR what’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
What is meant to be shall not pass me by.

Five Common Questions About Spina Bifida

Five Common Questions About Spina Bifida

by | Oct 24, 2025 | Pediatric Developmental Disabilities

We understand that learning your child has spina bifida can lead to many questions. However, families do not have to handle this journey alone.

At Scottish Rite for Children, a large team of doctors and medical experts are ready to treat children with spina bifida. Scottish Rite’s Spina Bifida Clinic offers a team approach that gives families a plan for each stage of their child’s life. Together, our Spina Bifida team will help every child with spina bifida reach their full potential.

1) What is spina bifida?

The term “spina bifida” means “split spine.” Spina bifida is a condition that occurs when a baby’s neural tube does not close or grow correctly while developing. The neural tube is the part that later becomes the brain and spinal cord. Spina bifida develops during the first month of pregnancy, often before the family knows about the pregnancy.

Spina bifida affects the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system). It also affects other body systems that work together, like the bowel, bladder, swallowing, growth and skin. Spina bifida presents differently for each child. With the right care, most children with spina bifida will live bright and full lives.

2) What are the different types of spina bifida?

These are the three most common types of spina bifida:

  • Myelomeningocele (my-low-muh-NIN-juh-seal): This form of spina bifida is the most complex type. It affects the spine, spinal cord and the tube they are in (the spinal canal). Myelomeningocele happens when a baby is born with a sac filled with fluid that sticks out from an opening in their back. The sac holds part of the spinal cord and nerves. This causes nerve damage and other problems.
  • Meningocele (muh-NIN-juh-seal): With this type of spina bifida, a fluid-filled sac pushes through an opening in the spine. This sac contains the covering of the spinal cord, not the nerves. Nerve damage and symptoms may vary. Surgery is usually needed to remove the sac.
  • Spina Bifida Occulta (oh-KUL-tuh): “Occulta” means “hidden.” This type of spina bifida causes a small gap in the spine bones (vertebrae). Up to 20% of children with spina bifida have this form, and it usually does not have symptoms. Unlike other types of spina bifida, spina bifida occulta does not affect the nerves.

3) What causes spina bifida, and can it be prevented?

Doctors do not know the exact cause of spina bifida. Researchers think it is caused by a combination of factors, like a family’s genes or food.

Taking folic acid, also called vitamin B9, before pregnancy can lower the risk of a child developing spina bifida. Also, tests during pregnancy (prenatal tests) can help detect spina bifida. Doctors use test results to help families early by providing key information and resources before the baby is born.

 4) What are the main health issues for someone with spina bifida?

Spina bifida is a condition that lasts a lifetime and can affect many parts of a child’s health. Some of the main health issues include:

  • Bladder and Bowel Control: It is common for children with spina bifida to have problems with their bladder and bowel. This function depends on how well their nerves work. When the nerves that control the bladder and bowel do not work, it is hard for children to control when they go to the restroom. Children with spina bifida will often need help emptying their bladder and bowels, as well as staying dry during the day.
  • Mobility: There are many ways for children to move around. Depending on the type of spina bifida, some children can walk with little to no problems. Others may need braces, walkers or wheelchairs. As a child gets older and continues to grow, the way they move around may change.
  • Skin: Children with spina bifida often have less feeling in some body parts, like in their feet, legs or back. Because of this, wearing braces or spending long periods of time in a wheelchair can sometimes cause pressure sores. Pressure sores and blisters can turn into deep wounds or infections that are hard to heal. To prevent this issue, caregivers and the child should check the skin for injuries daily, like during bath time.

5) What does lifelong care for spina bifida look like?

Families come to Scottish Rite’s Spina Bifida Clinic at different points in their journey. Children with spina bifida need a team of medical experts who will partner with them to find the best treatment plan for every body part affected.

The care team includes:

  • Pediatric Developmental Disabilities (PDD): Medical Director of PDD Christine Murphy, M.D., developmental behavioral pediatrician Shanmuga Pujitha “Puji” Jonnalagadda, M.D., and physician Richard Adams, M.D., are at the forefront of spina bifida care and research. They work alongside advanced practice providers (APPs) to deliver compassionate, family-oriented and evidence-based care.
  • Neurosurgery: When a baby with spina bifida is born, evaluations and surgeries start with a neurosurgeon. Neurosurgeons complete the first step of treating spina bifida by closing the open spinal cord. Many babies with spina bifida have hydrocephalus (hy-dro-SEFF-uh-luss). This happens when the fluid around the brain does not drain fast enough. A tube, called a shunt, is placed inside the brain to drain the extra fluid. The shunt relieves the extra pressure that the slow-moving fluid causes. Each year, a neurosurgeon checks on the shunt to make sure it is working properly. 
  • Urology: Most children have issues with their bladder and bowel. A team of urologists, nurses and dietitians partner with families to create a plan to prevent common kidney complications. This team also helps children and families transition through each stage of urinary and bowel continence and achieve independence in their personal care.
  • Orthopedics: Scottish Rite’s pediatric orthopedic surgeons address problems with the muscles and bones, including conditions such as clubfoot, scoliosis and tightness related to the knees, hips or feet. They partner with experts in Orthotics & Prosthetics to create braces (orthoses) for children with this need.
  • Therapy Services: The Therapy Services team helps children with spina bifida become more independent.
    • Physical therapists provide exercises to help children move efficiently, with the goal of becoming more active and independent.
    • Occupational therapists help children develop the skills they need for success with daily activities, like putting on clothes or bathing.
    • Therapeutic recreation specialists help families find activities in the community that match their child’s interests and abilities.

Scottish Rite’s Spina Bifida team is committed to providing the best medical care for every child. When your child reaches adulthood, your care team will help them transition from pediatric to adult care, as well.

Getting treatment early, no matter which type of spina bifida your child has, often leads to more successful outcomes. If your child was diagnosed with spina bifida, Scottish Rite for Children’s Spina Bifida program can help. Request an appointment or call the Pediatric Developmental Disabilities department at 214-559-8673 to discuss spina bifida care.