Patricia Callahan

Tamsen Spencer Witczak greets her brother, Kenan, after she got home from school on Sept. 20.

7-year-old Kenan, who helped spark a lifesaving change in state procedures, dies from Krabbe disease

June 14, 2024 at 6:40 p.m.

Kenan Spencer Witczak, a 7-year-old South Shore boy whose story helped make it possible for Illinois children with Krabbe disease to get a shot at lifesaving treatment, died Thursday of...

Laura Shelton holds her daughter Lana on March 1, 2017, when the girl was 8 months old. Lana, who was not screened by the state for Krabbe disease at birth, died of the disease on Jan. 1, 2018.

Girl dies of Krabbe disease after Illinois delayed newborn screening program

June 14, 2024 at 6:42 p.m.

Another Illinois child has died of Krabbe disease, a condition that could have been treated if public health officials had followed through on a state law and screened her for...

Allan Delos Reyes shields his face from the cold while walking along the 2400 block of the Lakefront Trail on Jan. 1, 2018, in Chicago.

How cold was it Monday? Frigid enough to cancel the Polar Plunge

May 31, 2019 at 9:07 p.m.

Temperatures plunged to near-record levels for New Year’s Day — frigid enough that the annual Polar Plunge into Lake Michigan at North Avenue Beach was canceled. But some 400 hardy...

Dr. Nirav Shah holds an impromptu meeting with families of children with Krabbe disease, including Laura Shelton and Natasha Spencer, to the left and right of Shah, respectively, waiting to testify while a hearing was delayed on Oct. 25, 2017, at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield.

Illinois babies finally screened for deadly Krabbe disease

June 14, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.

Natasha Spencer didn't know whether this day would ever arrive. On Tuesday, the South Shore mother watched as technicians at the Illinois Department of Public Health lab in Chicago screened...

10 years after law passed, Illinois finally ready to test newborns for devastating Krabbe disease

June 14, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.

Ten years after lawmakers directed state officials to screen all newborns for a deadly disease, the Illinois Department of Public Health says it is poised to begin testing babies, making...

Outcome Health’s problems with sales pitches go back years

June 14, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.

Long before investors poured nearly $500 million into Outcome Health, executives at the Chicago startup time and again reprimanded salesmen for making misleading or inaccurate claims, records show. Outcome, which...

Parents of dead, dying children blast Public Health director for newborn testing failure

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

Speaking publicly for the first time about his department's decadelong failure to begin screening babies for a deadly disease, Illinois Public Health Director Nirav Shah told state lawmakers on Wednesday,...

Illinois’ Public Health chief to face parents of terminally ill kids at state hearing

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

Six parents are scheduled to testify at a legislative hearing Wednesday about Illinois' failure to test their children for a disease that is deadly unless caught and treated immediately. You...

Legislators want answers on Illinois’ failure to screen babies for deadly Krabbe disease

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

Outraged by a Chicago Tribune report, state Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, is asking officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health to explain at a legislative hearing next week why...

Rauner vows to get newborn screening for Krabbe disease ‘done’

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday said he was frustrated with how long the state is taking to begin screening Illinois newborns for a deadly disease and vowed to "get this...

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