Being hooked up to tubes didn’t stop 7-year-old Bellamy Dixon from swinging a golf club alongside Australian professional golfer Marc Leishman.
The Newport News youngster, a patient at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, listened intently as Leishman offered encouraging tips on his swings.
Leishman and his wife, Audrey, founders of the Begin Again Foundation, were at the Norfolk hospital on Tuesday to help recognize Sepsis Awareness Month and spotlight their foundation’s new multiyear $250,000 commitment to CHKD’s quality and safety initiatives.
Professional Australian golfer Marc Leishman plays on a miniature putting green with Bellamy Dixon, 7, and Zoey Thomas, 4, at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)
After countless holes-in-one and accompanying cheers, Bellamy and several other patients, including 4-year-old Zoey Thomas and 6-year-old Nora Horn, sat comfortably on mats on the playroom floor while Audrey Leishman read her newly released children’s book, “Katie Koala’s Biggest Fight: A Little Koala’s Fight Against a Big Illness.”
Other patients in the 206-bed pediatric hospital watched from their rooms on closed-circuit televisions.
“This is my first time reading the book and what a special place to do it,” the author said.
Audrey Leishman is a sepsis survivor who spent five days in a coma in 2015. Since recovering, the Virginia Beach resident has made it her purpose to support other survivors and raise awareness about the condition that, without quick treatment, can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death.
“I wrote the book with the hopes that children will start to recognize how their body feels and to learn to trust their bodies, but also to empower parents with the knowledge to just ask the question: ‘Could it be sepsis?’” she said.
Audrey Leishman sits with her husband Marc as she reads “Katie Koala’s Biggest Fight”, the children’s book she authored, to patients at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. Leishman suffered a life-threatening bout of sepsis and wrote the book to spread awareness. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)
The advocate herself said she thought she had the flu and had never heard of sepsis until her diagnosis. Sepsis, an extreme reaction to an infection, is a life-threatening medical emergency.
“Every sepsis story breaks my heart,” she said.
But the stories of children who died after being taken to a doctor — sometimes multiple times — and sent home without the proper diagnosis are what really prompted Audrey Leishman to pen her book.
Nora Horn, 6, receives a sticker pack from Audrey Leishman at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. The stickers are Katie Koala themed, based on the children’s book Leishman authored. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)
Healthcare staff have struggled to recognize sepsis on the floor or in the emergency room before a case ends up in the intensive care unit, said Dr. John Harrington, a CHKD pediatrician who is also vice president of quality and safety.
“Sepsis moves very quickly in a child because their defenses are a little bit less than an adult,” Harrington said.
Dr. John Harrington, a board-certified general pediatrician, speaks about sepsis in children during an interview after Audrey Leishman read her book, “Katie Koala’s Biggest Fight”, to patients at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)
The development of a life-changing predictive tool by CHKD senior clinical data analyst Robert Sepanski called Children at High Risk or CHR enables healthcare providers to carefully monitor patients — and quickly intervene — for sepsis.
“We really feel like it’s working. We’re excited about it and we want other people to know about it,” Harrington said. “Audrey and Marc’s gift is helping us to do that.”
The Leishmans latest gift to CHKD will help the health system provide education about sepsis, maintain the tool and transfer to a new electronic medical records system, Harrington said. The Begin Again Foundation has supported more than 9,045 families at CHKD, contributing more than $500,000 in financial aid.
Harrington said he can relate to how Audrey Leishman turned her experience with sepsis into a way to help others. He said he gets the same feeling working in pediatrics because children have so much more life to live.
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@pilotonline.com