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Banana Open serves up a good cause

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More than a decade has passed since Casey Honowitz's life was saved at the Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital in Charleston.

But the 11-year-old Hilton Head Island resident and his parents, Susan and Barry Honowitz, still don't pass up an opportunity to give thanks.

This weekend, they will join hundreds of other Lowcountry parents and children for the Banana Open Junior Challenge at Palmetto Dunes Tennis Center on Hilton Head. The tennis tournament, which is open to kids and teens 18 and younger, is sponsored by Friends of the Children and Dr. James F. Gigante and benefits the Charles P. Darby Children's Research Institute at MUSC. Last year's Banana Open raised more than $15,000.

"They made last year's tournament so fun in drawing everybody together that it felt like family," Susan Honowitz said. "And that's what MUSC made us feel like. That we were part of a family just going through a critical time."

When Casey was delivered by an emergency cesarean section July 12, 1996, Honowitz said the doctor discovered the umbilical cord was wrapped around her newborn's neck seven times. Casey had multiple seizures and experienced severe asphyxia before being flown from Hilton Head to Charleston to receive treatment at MUSC, where doctors initially told Honowitz that her son had only a 5 percent chance of making it through the night.

"It had taken us 13 years to have a baby and this was happening," she said. "... I pray for these doctors every day for the decision they made that night."

To stabilize Casey and prevent his brain from swelling due to the oxygen his body had been deprived of during birth, the doctors induced a coma and packed his head in ice. The experimental treatment ended up saving Casey's life and later led to the hospital receiving a grant to develop the use of hypothermia therapy for birth asphyxia.

"That's why I believe in what we're doing with this tennis tournament," Honowitz said. "When Casey was born that research institute wasn't there, but those doctors still were on the cutting edge of how to treat him. All of this is going toward research, which will be used to help every child in any type of situation receive the best care."

According to Elizabeth Hancock, the Honowitz family is one of many in the Lowcountry who share a special connection with the Children's Hospital at MUSC.

She and nine other local women founded Friends of the Children, the nonprofit group sponsoring the Banana Open, to create awareness and raise money for the facility and its research. Each year, the group hosts about four luncheons on Hilton Head that bring in physicians from the hospital to educate families on current health issues and research.

"It's turned out to be a great way for moms to meet other moms, especially those who have children with the same issues," Hancock said. "It's been a great support system and not only gotten the word out that the hospital exists over there, but that it provides important services."

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