Arkansas Children's patient, Brooklyn Hollowell

Brooklyn Hollowell, Age 16, Little Rock, AR

A Safe Haven for Brooklyn

A 16-year-old Arkansas Children’s patient shares her gratitude for the exceptional care she receives … because of you.

Published date: January 16, 2026

- By Brooklyn Hollowell

As a 5-year-old girl, I did not understand why, on that night, I was being rushed to the nearest hospital. All I knew at the time was that I was in indescribable pain, and if it didn’t end soon, I don’t know if I could have lasted any longer.

That night is when my irrevocable trust in Arkansas Children’s began. If it weren’t for being rushed to them that night, I have no idea what type of person or how undertreated my illness would have gone today.

A Life-long Autoimmune Disorder

Even through my smallest life experiences, I am hyperaware of my illness. Whether it be hanging out with my friends or just sitting in my mother’s bed, I always understand the contrast in my life towards my “normal” friends’ lives.

Having been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a life-long autoimmune disorder, at such a young age, I’ve always had an understanding that I will never live a life of complete normalcy. I have flare-ups, I get so sick that I can barely wake up and go through the motions some days, and I visit the hospital much more than other teenagers do. Though, as I get older, I realize that I find having such an illness is just another piece of the girl I’m turning out to be.

As a younger girl, all I could see Crohn’s as was something dreadful and intolerable, something that I would never be able to overcome. It would be something that, compared to my peers, would always hold me back and weigh me down.

I was told from a young age that I would be different, that all of my experiences would differ from those of my friends. A vivid example of this is the day of my kindergarten graduation. I could barely get out of bed that day, but I suffered through it. I was unwell to an extent that my mind hadn’t even begun to process.

Thank you for your support.

Brooklyn with “Cinderella” in the Arkansas Children’s Hospital lobby in 2024.

Your generous support of kids like Brooklyn gives children a better today and a healthier, happier, brighter tomorrow.

A Safer Space

Only an hour after our performance, I was in Arkansas Children’s again. I was back to my old state, where my hospital bed became a safer space than the twin bed I had at home, and my hand was barely visible through the medical table enclosing the IV needle.

I don’t remember how long I was there for exactly, but through the visits of my kindergarten teacher and the hospital staff, along with one specific specialist, my stay in the hospital never made me feel like a “sick” child. At Arkansas Children’s, I was never treated as just another patient, but as a child that they truly wanted to make a difference for.Arkansas Children’s Hospital not only improved my quality of life at that moment, but made me understand that this illness is not all I will ever be; I am still human, and for those days, I was still there, alive and breathing and able to speak, which is more of a blessing than I could ever realize.

Relationships & Connections

Since then, I have lived a considerable amount of life and gone through years upon years of treatment through Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Somehow, this is what has made me the most appreciative of my diagnosis. The relationships and connections that I’ve made simply from going through treatment are ones that I hold closest to my heart.

The nurses that I see through my treatment, the specialists that work with and around me, and just the exceptional staff have made my experience at Arkansas Children’s one that I always make sure to tell others about.

I never thought that something as miniscule and as frightening as receiving medicine through a thin needle for hours would turn out to be such an impactful part of my life.

As I grew, I started to see these treatments as a little safe haven from my “normal” life. The treatments were a break, and Arkansas Children’s is a place where the deeper parts of me were understood without saying a word.

The smell of sterilized equipment and the pasty feeling of a blue tourniquet, attended by the voices of my doctors and the warmer hands of my nurses, are nothing but familiar to me. Thinking back on it now, I don’t believe that I can even remember a life without those things.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital made my experience of being “ill” into something that now feels like just another part of my life, another large fragment of who I am. I don’t look at it as a constraint or something that is holding me back, but as something that’s made me more empathetic and left me with a feeling of appreciation for my Crohn’s.

Nothing But Thankful

I don’t think that I would have been the same extroverted, creative, loving girl that I am at this very moment without living the largest parts of my life through Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

I am nothing but thankful for the experiences they have given me, whether it be the nurses working 12-hour shifts, the specialists seeing me for an appointment, or just the staff who’ve seen the same little girl walk into the same entrances for the last 11 years.

While Crohn’s has made me feel like a dread sometimes, as I’ve grown up, I’ve realized that it is the unspoken component of my life that will always stay the same. It will always make me the girl I am today, and that is nothing short of beautiful.