Kirsten Tragesser has had two careers: the one that came before she lost her 2-year-old daughter, Maddie, to lung disease, and the one she’s dedicated herself to ever since.
After Maddie’s death, Tragesser adopted and had another child. Two years later, she began working toward the second career she’d imagined in Philadelphia. She took classes, served an internship at Riley Hospital for Children, and became certified in 2007.
Soon, she landed a job at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent and later became a child life specialist for Riley at IU Health North.