Miss Pennsylvania visits Janet Weis Children's Hospital

Miss Pennsylvania visits Janet Weis Children's Hospital
By Karen Blackledge kblackledge@thedanvillenews.com Sep 11, 2019
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DANVILLE — Miss Pennsylvania Tiffany Seitz loves to talk about miracles with miracle kids in hospitals.

Seitz, 24, of Freeport near Pittsburgh, spent a lot of time in the hospital after being born. She tested cocaine positive and doctors were unsure if she would survive beyond two weeks.

"I met so many amazing kids. I love it," she said of her first visit Tuesday afternoon to the Janet Weis Children's Hospital, which is part of the Children's Miracle Network of Hospitals. Seitz was in foster care and was adopted when she was 2 and a half.

Seitz serves as the goodwill ambassador for the five Children's Network Hospitals in Pennsylvania and educates people about fostering and adoption.

She met Katelyn Herman, 10, who was playing a game styling hair and putting makeup on a cheerleader while watching "Paw Patrol" on TV.

The fifth-grader at Newport Elementary School said it was "really cool" to meet Miss Pennsylvania. She said she watches shows of kids who are in pageants, such as "Dance Mom," and likes to watch a dancer from there she said is famous on YouTube.

"It's really cool to see a famous person," said Katelyn, who wants to be a princess when she gets older and go to England to "see the castle and everything."

Her mother, Justine Herman, said she comes to the hospital one day a month for an infusion to treat autoimmune encephalitis.

Hope Mickels, 7, of Tunkhannock, got to try on Seitz's sparkling silver crown and white sash while visiting her sister in the hospital.

"It is a fun job and you will sparkle a lot," Seitz told her. Hope, who said the crown wasn't too heavy, was a zombie Cinderella for Halloween and wore a tiara.

Seitz also visited Adam Salazar, 16, of Tunkhannock, who said he was able to walk around the hallway Tuesday and eat a chef salad.

"He's quite the chef," his aunt, Jean Daniels, of Pittston, said. His mother, Margaret Salazar, said he makes good shrimp scampi and his aunt said he "makes the best scrambled eggs."

The high school sophomore said he won a chili cook-off two years in a row with his sweet and spicy creations. He said he took a culinary course in school.

Seitz, who said she "can't cook at all," said she can "whip up a mean box of mac and cheese."

Adam, who hopes to study something related to cooking after high school, posts himself on Facebook as "Junior Chef Ramsey," his mother said. She said he was admitted Sunday and hoped to be discharged Wednesday. "He popped a lung while wrestling with his friends," she said.

Seitz, who graduated from Grove City College with a degree in entrepreneurship and a minor in communication studies, was named Miss Pennsylvania June 15. She will compete in the Miss America pageant Dec. 19 in Connecticut.

She was in the area recently, appearing in the Danville Heritage Festival Parade in July and the Fourth of July Parade in Lewisburg.

https://www.dailyitem.com/the_danville_news/news/miss-pennsylvania-visits-janet-weis-children-s-hospital/article_345ed56d-2242-5336-b10d-28b20c9a5bde.html