Gratitude Stories – Mia
For Mia and her family, healing wasn’t just about survival … It was about rediscovering joy, trust, and hope for the future. At age sixteen, Mia spent more than fifteen months on the behavioral health unit at Hasbro Children’s while being treated for functional neurological disorder (FND). This rare and complex condition disrupted every part of her life.
After exhausting every option near their home in Colorado, Mia’s family found that Hasbro Children’s was the only hospital in the country equipped to treat her condition. With no other path forward, her mother relocated to Rhode Island, living at the Ronald McDonald House for more than a year while Mia received care.
FND is a disorder where the brain struggles to send and receive signals properly, often triggered by physical or emotional trauma. In addition to experiencing frequent vomiting and extreme sensitivity to touch, Mia also lost her ability to see, talk, and walk. She was eventually placed on a feeding tube and remained bedridden for nearly two years.
“We weren’t sure she would make it,” her mom, Jennifer, recalls. “So many hospitals turned us away. Hasbro Children’s was the only place that said yes.”
What made Hasbro Children’s different was its unique Med-Psych model, integrating medical and psychological care for the most complex cases, along with the compassionate, creative work of the Healing Arts program. Through massage therapy, acupuncture, yoga, and painting, Mia was gently reintroduced to her body, her voice, and her sense of self.
“At first, she could only tolerate Stella Moreira [her Healing Arts therapist] massaging one hand,” Jennifer recalls. “But slowly, she allowed more. Eventually, she started painting again and doing yoga in her hospital room. These weren’t just activities; they were breakthroughs.”
Healing Arts met Mia where she was, building trust and creating space for healing beyond the clinical. When she transitioned from inpatient to partial hospitalization, Stella continued working with her, offering a sense of stability even when her care plan had shifted.
Today, Mia has returned to school, developed hobbies, and even attended prom—milestones that once felt out of reach.
“They gave Mia her future back,” Jennifer says. “She has dreams again. She’s going to school, she has friends, she’s making plans. That would not have been possible without Hasbro Children’s.”