Transgender Awareness Week — Meet Extra Lifer and CMN Hospitals Patient Allison

This week we’re observing Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance. Extra Life’s priorities have always been helping any and all kids who come through the doors of a Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals facility. Over 10 million children come to our hospitals looking for help every year. During Transgender Awareness Week, we want to recognize that, statistically, at least 60,000 of those kids are transgender. While many of those transgender children and young adults may come for treatment related to cases that have nothing to do with their gender or sexuality, many also come in search of specialized care. Sometimes that means they need the support of staff who can understand the struggles transgender children and young adults go through, and sometimes that means they need specialized hormone treatment. Transgender kids often need both; kids like Allison. She explained that “Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has impacted my life, both in treating my polycystic kidney disease and through supporting my medical needs as a transgender young woman.” Check out this video to see more of her story:

The transgender community remains especially susceptible to depression, anxiety, and attempted suicide, problems that manifest acutely in kids and young adults. Hospitals have been slow to step up to serve this vulnerable group of people, which makes places like the Transgender Health Clinic at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and others at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across the country, incredibly important.

This week and always we honor the people who fight For The Kids year after year, who come from all walks of life with different skills and passions. Extra Life undoubtedly has one of the best communities in all of gaming.

Don’t forget to sign up for Extra Life, a fundraising program of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!