When the Prescription is Home Care

A mother works to get sick kids the help they need — where they need it

Ben Baker / Redux for TIME

S.K.I.P. founders Yves and Margaret Mikol with their son, Jonathan, 21.

One of the most intriguing qualities of extraordinary people is that they often don't feel that they are special. As they transform the lives of those around them, they say they are just doing what they have to do. Margaret Mikol is one such hero. In 1978, her daughter Julia was born with severe combined immunodeficiency, which required her to be kept in a completely sterile hospital environment--like the "boy in the bubble." When Julia was 3 months old, she had a bone-marrow transplant that left her with a functioning immune system but unable to breathe on her own. Her hearing...

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