Children S Hospital Of Orange County

Next week, Jesse Zweig hopes to run the equivalent of about 7 1/2 marathons in a row. In less than two days. Zweig, 18, will begin a 200-mile run around Orange County -- nonstop, with any luck -- on Thursday afternoon to raise money for Children's Hospital of Orange County. His goal is to collect $20,000 in pledges before the run and finish the course -- roughly the distance between Long Beach and San Diego ... and back -- in less than 48 hours.

An 18-year-old Orange County man who vowed to run 200 miles in 48 hours to raise money for a children's hospital cut short his effort Saturday because, he said, his feet hurt. Jesse Zweig had started running about 2:30 p.m. Thursday to earn $20,000 in pledges for Children's Hospital of Orange County. The former El Toro High School cross-country and track athlete planned to end his quest at his Lake Forest home Saturday. "I always had good health, Zweig said last week while training for the run.

Surgeons at Children's Hospital of Orange County mistakenly removed the wrong side of a child's skull during a brain tumor operation in January after failing to follow proper procedures leading up to the surgery, according to a state report. Doctors realized their error when they saw no tumor under the left-side portion of the skull they removed. They then correctly performed the operation on the right side of the patient's head.

Children's Hospital of Orange County announced Thursday that it was changing some surgery procedures after doctors operated on the wrong side of a patient's head. Under the new rules, cutting devices will be removed from the immediate operating area until a required "time out" has been completed, while surgeons verify the patient's medical records to ensure they are performing the correct procedure.

A new Orange County radio station that hit the airwaves Friday will not be driven by ratings, but by how many smiles it brings to the faces of its most important demographic -- children with serious illnesses listening from their hospital beds. Broadcasting from the lobby of Children's Hospital of Orange County, Radio Lollipop was an instant hit Friday morning with its live studio audience.

Dr. Philip H. Schwartz spent six years providing university researchers with neural stem cells cultured by a method he had helped invent at the Salk Institute in La Jolla. He figured this was a win-win. His technique provided biomedical scientists with live tissue, an improvement over the dead cells, harvested from the brains of deceased patients, that had been the standard fare. Science marched ahead, bringing novel neurological applications closer to reality.

Math is hardly Christina Bowers' favorite subject. At best, it ranks a distant second to the spelling tests the Huntington Beach fifth-grader often aces. But Christina was hardly complaining last week when recess ended and it was time to practice multiplication tables. In fact, she nearly cried with joy. Diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer in November, Christina, 10, is struggling to stay alive.

Children's Hospital of Orange County announced Monday that its Oct. 8 Walk in the Park, held in conjunction with Disneyland, raised about $1 million, more than any other fundraiser in the hospital's history. An estimated 11,000 participants -- including community members, corporate teams and current or former patients with their families -- walked the 5K route through Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure to raise the funds for CHOC.

Leukemia took Kevin Seitz's life in August 2001, but the 2-year-old still touches others during his family's annual visit to Disneyland. More than 100 of the Mission Viejo boy's family members and friends participated Sunday morning in the 13th annual Walk in the Park to benefit Children's Hospital of Orange County, where Kevin spent his final six months. For those who knew Kevin, the event is a chance to honor his life and help other families with ailing children.