Courage To Shine ™, Turning Adversity to Triumph,

Courage to Shine™ was founded to acknowledge, motivational and inspirational individuals and/or groups of patients whom have overcome congenital genitourinary birth defects and/or major urological surgeries in their childhood (but not limited too), and have the courage, strength and determination, to transform that adversity to triumph later in life.

Newest Stories:

2025 Courage to Shine: George Hunt III’s Inspiring Journey

I was born in 1977 on an Air Force base in Oklahoma—one of four babies diagnosed with bladder exstrophy that same week. Back then, no one knew what that meant, and certainly not how to treat it. Thankfully, my parents found their way to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. That journey saved my life.

Like many exstrophy patients, I also had epispadias and pelvic separation. The doctors did what they could to keep me alive, and—thank God—they didn’t make things worse. They got me to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. My parents were twenty years old and terrified. Instead of celebrating their first child, they were grieving the future they thought we’d have. But time has a funny way of working things out. And we were exactly where we needed to be.

More at: 2025 Courage to Shine: George Hunt III’s Inspiring Journey