Girl Superstars

Angelica Hale

Atlanta Ga.

DoB July 31st, 2007

I was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 2007 to James and Eva Hale.

It became apparent early on in my life that I was meant to become a singer. When I was just two years old, I began to sing along to popular songs on the radio.

I was starting to show real promise with my singing when suddenly, at the age of 4, I contracted an aggressive strep bacteria in my lungs. After only a week, my illness turned to double pneumonia and was rushed to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite.

My first two days in the hospital were rough. The infection in my lungs was really bad, and I went septic. I experienced multiple organ failure, with my kidneys scarred over and no longer functioning. My lungs were bleeding and air was leaking into my abdomen. My lungs were in real bad shape and I was put on a Ventilator, then an Oscilator to try and keep my oxygen levels up. I also underwent multiple blood and platelet transfusions during this time. Finally, things were so bad that I had to be Life-Flighted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.

There, I was put on ECMO as a last resort since I wasn't responding very well to the other treatments I was given. The other hospital did not have this life-saving equipment that I required. The ECMO machine performed the functions of my heart and lungs for 12 days. They also performed dialysis since my kidneys were not working and Plasmapherisis since my blood stream was so polluted from having gone septic.

Overall, I spent 80 days in the hospital from Feb. 2 to Apr. 24, 2012, and about 6 weeks in the PICU. I underwent many procedures, multiple surgeries, and once I returned home, I was still on dialysis. My mom and dad had to take me to the hospital 3 times a week for hemodialysis since my kidneys were still not functioning. I eventually underwent another procedure to have a dialysis tube inserted into my abdomen to allow for Peritoneal dialysis. This dialysis could be performed 7 days a week and from home.

This experience taught us to never take your future for granted. Things can and often do change in the blink of an eye.

Although I was still in kidney failure, I wanted to pursue my singing career in earnest now that I was given my new lease on life! At the age of 5, I began my singing lessons with vocal coach Tricia Grey in Alpharetta, GA.

A few months after I started my lessons, I performed for the first time on stage in front of a crowd of a couple hundred people at Duluth (GA) Idol in 2013. This was my first competition with actual judges as well! I sang two songs, "A Part of Your World" and "Reflection". I was very nervous, but I ended up winning for my age group of 5-9 year olds! Little did I know that this would be the foundation that I would build my singing career on!

The search for a new kidney began while I was still in the hospital and both of my parents got tested to see if they were a match. While my father was not a match, my mother was and she jumped at the opportunity to help me! She donated her kidney to me on Friday, September 13th, 2013 when I was 6 years old. A few days after the successful transplant, we were able to go home again as one big happy family! My road to recovery was officially underway!

Click photo for link to Angelica's story at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta