THE MAGAZINE OF ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION • DECEMBER 2016
YOUR SUPPORT HELPS
KIDS LIKE JON DAVID FIGHT CANCER ®
UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU.
During this holiday season, I’m particularly grateful for donors like you. Founded more than 100 years ago, Arkansas Children’s has long been a champion for children around the state—made possible by the support of individuals and families like you. Our history with philanthropy began in 1912 when a group of concerned citizens voted to establish a children’s home. The first of many generous gifts was a house in Morrilton that would become a home for Arkansas’ most in-need children. As the children’s home became a hospital and the hospital transformed into a healthcare system, the need for philanthropy has grown. Generations of donors have made transformational gifts in a number of ways. Each has played a role in making Arkansas Children’s the best choice for children. Today, the vision of Arkansas Children’s is to fundamentally transform healthcare delivery for the children of Arkansas and beyond through innovative advancements in patient care, research, education and advocacy resulting in unprecedented improved child health. While we are proud of our many accomplishments and achievements, we must never stop thinking about where we are going and what it will take to get there. We could not make this great progress without your help. Thank you for being our partner. Together, we are championing children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow. Sincerely,
Marcy Doderer, FACHE President and CEO Arkansas Children’s ACHIEVER STAFF: Editor Jennifer Cobb Pyron Contributing Writers Ashley Leopoulos, Becky McCauley, Jennifer Reed Design C. Waynette Traub Photographer Daniel Moody
2
| D E C E M B E R 20 16
• ACHIEVER • UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU
Arkansas Children’s Foundation Board of Directors Chair Marcy Doderer, FACHE Vice Chair Charles B. Whiteside III President Fred Scarborough, CFRE Treasurer Jason LaFrance Pat Allen Ritter Arnold Sharon Bale Ginger Blackmon Frances Buchanan Stuart Cobb Steve Davison Kirk Dupps Harry C. Erwin III Kim Fowler Hayden Franks, MD Sharilyn Gasaway Robin George Mike Gibson Sonja Yates Hubbard Jason LaFrance Sharon Lamb Mark Larsen Jim McClelland Barbara Moore Cindy Murphy Jake Nabholz Marshall Ney Terry Quinn Jennifer Schueck Patrick Schueck Belinda Shults Jennifer Smith Claudia Strange Celia Swanson Emeritus Directors Robert G. Cress Don Edmondson Henry Rogers, MD *Current as of Nov. 30, 2016
Lives You’ve Touched Children’s hospitals are unique. Each stage of a child’s development requires customized equipment, expertise and planning to provide safe, effective care. Team members are specifically trained to care for children. Every program, facility and piece of equipment is tailored to provide the right pediatric care at the right time. Additionally, children’s hospitals offer childand family-friendly environments to promote healing.
Because of you, Arkansas Children’s is here when children need it most. Here’s what your gifts help accomplish for kids:
424,500 31,000 Number of patient visits each year at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and clinics
140
Number of volunteer hours per month
Pounds of gummy bears sold every week in Playaway Gift Shop
4
51
Values: Safety, Teamwork, Compassion, Excellence
1,384 Number of nurses at Arkansas Children’s who provide care and play a vital role in each child’s care team
Number of hours patients spend in the ACH classroom per month
1
40
Number of visits from therapy dogs per month
Mission: To champion children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow
Until no child needs us, we need you! 800-880-7491 | giving.archildrens.org WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • D E C E M B E R 2016
|3
4
| D E C E M B E R 20 16
• ACHIEVER • UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU
Jon David’s Battle Your support helps children in Arkansas and beyond beat cancer BY BECKY MCCAULEY
J
on David is fighting cancer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital for the second time. And he’s only 3 years old. Last year, the Marlinda and Scott Wyatt were shocked to learn their son had cancer. As you can imagine, it was the scariest thing that has ever happened to them. According to Marlinda, “Jon David hadn’t been feeling well, so we took him to a clinic in our hometown of Berryville. His blood pressure was high, so we were referred to a local pediatrician. She suspected something was happening with his kidney, but wasn’t sure what it was. She referred us to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. I’m so grateful she did.” The first thing the Wyatts noticed when they arrived at ACH was how busy it was! “So many sick and injured children,” recalls Marlinda. “So many anxious, exhausted parents. But the doctors, nurses and staff seemed determined to find out what was wrong with our little boy.” And because of the support of people like you, they did. Jon David was diagnosed with Wilms tumor, a childhood cancer that usually grows on the kidney. Within a few days, he had surgery at ACH to remove the tumor. “It was such a whirlwind!” she says. “We came to ACH to find out why his blood pressure was high, and we ended up staying for eight long, terrifying days.”
Double Your Impact!
Jon David underwent outpatient chemotherapy at ACH over the next several months. When he finished treatment in November 2015, the Wyatt family was ready to go on with their lives. But this past March, during a routine follow-up visit at ACH, the family received the worst possible news. Jon David’s cancer had returned with a vengeance. It was stage 3 Wilms tumor, it was on his liver and it was growing fast. “It seemed like one minute they saw a little spot on his liver and the next minute it was taking over his body,” says Marlinda. But thanks to generous donors like you, Arkansas Children’s Hospital is here for kids like Jon David, time and time again. Jon David has been in and out of the hospital since last March receiving chemotherapy to shrink the tumor. When he finishes the chemo treatments, he will have surgery to remove the tumor. “We try to keep positive thoughts that he’ll be cured,” says Marlinda. “But you never know what will happen with this terrible disease. We will always have the nagging fear: What if it comes back again?” Jon David is just a little boy, but according to his mom, he’s been so strong! And Marlinda feels stronger, too, thanks to you. “Through all this I’ve learned that tomorrow is never promised. I’ve learned to be grateful for what we have,” she says. “But mostly I’ve learned that without people like you, my son wouldn’t be here today.”
Arkansas Children’s Hospital treats 90% of all pediatric cancer patients in Arkansas. You can help kids like Jon David with a gift to Arkansas Children’s this holiday season. All gifts received before December 31, 2016, will be matched by Central States Manufacturing, up to $20,000. Use the enclosed envelope or visit giving.archildrens.org to give generously so kids like Jon David can get better today and be healthier tomorrow.
WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • D E C E M B E R 2016
|5
Saving Chloe Thanks to you, these grateful parents got to take their baby girl home BY JENNIFER BARNETT REED
C
hloe Wilkin isn’t supposed to be alive. She isn’t supposed to be a walking, talking, laughing, dancing 2-year-old whose charisma stops adults in their tracks. Thanks to you, though, Chloe’s parents found their way to a doctor at Arkansas Children’s Hospital who told them not to give up — no matter what the tests showed, no matter what the statistics said. Beau Branson was just 16 weeks pregnant when an ultrasound showed something wrong with her baby’s brain. At 20 weeks, she and her partner Tim Wilkin got the official diagnosis. Their daughter had an opening at the base of her skull, and as her brain grew, it would squeeze out of the opening into a sac or cyst. Beau’s doctor said her baby had less than a 10 percent chance of surviving birth, and even if she did, she would never leave the hospital. There was nothing Beau and Tim could do other than keep her comfortable. “Go home and pray,” he told them as they left. So they did. And then they met with ACH neurosurgeon Dr. Eylem Ocal when Beau was 36 weeks pregnant.
6
| D E C E M B E R 20 16
“She was the only one who had hope,” Beau says. “She said, ‘We’ll just have to see. Let’s wait until she gets here, do an MRI and we’ll go from there.” When Chloe was delivered by c-section at UAMS, the cyst protruding from the base of her skull was bigger than her head. The Angel One ambluance team picked her up and took her immediately to the NICU at ACH. The MRI gave them no reason to hope—“It was much worse than anything we’d seen beforehand,” Tim says—but the next day, Dr. Ocal offered to operate as a palliative care measure. Beau was still recovering at UAMS, but the ACH staff used telemedicine capabilities so she could see Chloe and talk to the doctor.
• ACHIEVER • UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU
“That was our first experience with Arkansas Children’s,” Tim says. “Even though Beau was at another hospital and couldn’t be with Chloe, everything was set up in place so she could see what was going on with our baby in real time.” Early the next morning, Beau checked out of UAMS and came to hold her daughter before she went into surgery. “Even then, Dr. Ocal said she didn’t know whether she was going to live through the surgery or not,” Tim says. Six hours later, though, Chloe came out of the operating room with nothing but a bandage where the cyst had been. “Every day after that, it was just like another little miracle,” Tim says. First, she breathed on her own. Then she suckled a pacifier, and the day after that she ate from a bottle. On the third or fourth day, one of Chloe’s nurses suggested maybe it was time to buy some baby clothes.
Chloe has had five brain surgeries now, but she has surpassed anyone’s wildest expectations so far that it’s impossible to say what her long-term prognosis is — she and her doctors at ACH are all in uncharted territory. ACH’s Palliative Care team coordinates Chloe’s care through the hospital’s neurosurgery, ophthalmology, neurology, and Circle of Friends primary care clinics. At 2 1/2 years old, Chloe’s a little wobbly, but she walks independently. She goes to therapy three times a week and has met every goal they’ve set for her. Tim and Beau hope that by sharing their story, they can pay forward the amazing care they’ve received from Arkansas Children’s. And they are grateful to donors like you who made it possible for them to take Chloe home. “If Arkansas Children’s wasn’t here, Chloe wouldn’t be here now,” Beau says. “No one else could handle her diagnosis.”
“If Arkansas Children’s wasn’t here, Chloe wouldn’t be here now. No one else could handle her diagnosis.” — Beau Branson WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • D E C E M B E R 2016
|7
WHY WE GIVE
From The Heart
Lanaris make giving a family affair BY ASHLEY LEOPOULOS
I
n 2002, Fran and Michael Lanari watched as their five-month-old son was wheeled into the operating room of the cardiovascular unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH). Putting their trust in the staff at ACH, they knew their tiny baby would undergo open-heart surgery in good hands. The Lanaris spent the first few months of their son’s life researching the best children’s hospital for this lifesaving surgery. “We asked our friends who were out of state cardiologists, ‘Which hospital has the best pediatric cardiology surgeon?’” explains Fran. “They recommended ACH, which was right in our own back yard. We were told we had one of the best in the world for infant surgery, and they were right! Our need for ACH didn’t end with that surgery. There have been more surgeries and care needed over the years. Recently, we have been relying on ACH’s neurology department for our daughter’s seizure disorder, which is under control. We thank God every day for ACH.” Thanks to the excellent care they received, the Lanari family dedicated their time and energy
to finding a way to give back to ACH. After brainstorming, the Lanaris created and hosted the first Kitchen & Bath Concepts’ Home Expo more than 10 years ago. Since then, Fran and Michael, their children Rachael and Michael Joe, and the Kitchen & Bath Concepts’ team have grown this event to support the mission of Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The expo has raised more than $225,000 to date. “Every single dime we raise from the event goes to ACH,” explains Michael. “Our goal is to donate as much as we can, so we clean the showroom, cook the food and solicit the donations while working full time. I hope our kids pick up the torch for this event after us.” “Our prayer is that our children will have ACH available for their children and whatever we can do to help is a labor of love,” says Fran. “I have been awestruck by the generosity of Arkansans. It pulls at my heart that people have supported ACH and our event for so long. I’m so thankful.”