Stories

How Philanthropy Fuels Healing and Inspiration

Unbreakable. Through it all – the stress, the exhaustion, the worry, the fear — it’s the word that comes most to mind for Annie Lucero. Unbreakable, because in the midst of their shattered dreams for their baby, there was hope. They’ve had to bend, but they’re not broken. But their precious little boy’s heart was. And that’s where their story began.

Imagine you’re 6 years old. After a terrifying accident, you were pried from a car, whisked into an ambulance and rushed to the trauma center at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. All you can see are glaring lights and the faces of people you don’t know. Doctors are urgently giving orders. Nurses are putting a mask over your face and needles in your arm. You can‘t breathe; you’re disoriented, and no one knows your name yet. Your tears spill over and you begin to panic. Then, a Child Life Specialist enters the room. Everything changes.

When Michael Kruer was in medical school, he knew he wanted to work with children. But his advisors cautioned him against specializing in neurology. They told him it was one of the most difficult fields to practice — and that he may never be able to look a patient in the eye and tell them he could take away what ails them. Dr. Kruer took this as a challenge.

“She tells everyone she wants to be a mom when she grows up. She’s just so nurturing, and it would be awful to think she couldn’t do that.” It’s what Jennifer Tully of New River says about her 10-year-old daughter, Carmella. She’d always played with dolls, and for most young girls her age, future motherhood seems like a given.

Meredith Green-Brown says she had a healthy pregnancy, the natural labor she’d planned for, and that her sweet baby Oscar was perfect. Her husband though, noticed something less than perfect.

Willow is bouncing up and down on her bed at Phoenix Children's Hospital, and wriggling to the music. Her eyes are brighter and her small, chunky body moves with the beat. In some ways, she looks like a typical one-year-old, the apple of her mom’s eye.

Gabriel’s body had been keeping a secret. And on an ordinary spring day, it finally spilled over. “I heard the ambulances go by my office, and I just had a bad feeling.”

New parents often catch themselves standing at their infant’s crib just watching their little one sleep. But parents of babies needing neonatal intensive care don’t get that luxury. Until now.

The Phoenix Children’s Hospital Foundation Teen Board offers a fun and unique opportunity for teens to contribute to their community in a significant way.

He may be getting ready to fly all around the world but Santa recently took some time out of his extremely busy schedule to visit the nicest kids around. Of course, we’re talking about our awesome patients here at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The kids wrote extra special letters to Santa so he could see not...

Hussein was visiting his grandfather’s gravesite in Iraq when he stepped on a landmine. The explosion cost him his eyesight and his left hand. Plus, more than 30 percent of his body was ravaged with second-and third-degree burns.

Last May, 16-year-old Anthony was at a backyard family gathering in Glendale when a massive tree branch suddenly fell and crushed him. His mother Melissa pulled her son out from under the branch. He was unconscious and the left side of his face was completely crushed. She called 911.

Santa could never forget the kids at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Last week he made one of his many visits to our kids with his magic mailbox. Stacks and stacks of letters to Santa were left in his magic mailbox for delivery to the elves in the North Pole. Obviously Santa wanted to share some of...

Many parents worry over their children’s health; for health care professionals who are also parents, the worries seem to double every time they see a new illness or try to help a child recover from a serious accident.

Did you know there are approximately 27,000 homeless individuals in Phoenix? Many of these people are children living in shelters or on the street, deprived of the most basic and essential needs. Yesterday was a meaningful day for these children...

A lot of people think it would be cool to be born on Halloween; not only would you get birthday cake on your big day, you’d get tons and tons of candy! Isaiah was born on October 31st but he’s never had candy. In fact, Isaiah has never tasted food at all.

When you meet Anthony and see how full of life and love he is, it’s difficult to imagine that he almost wasn’t here to charm his parents and everyone who has been privileged to meet him. But a serious car accident when Anthony’s mom Tyesha was 34 weeks pregnant made it seem impossible that he would live more than a few days, let alone become an energetic and awesome little boy.

Active and bright at 5 years old with dreams of becoming a ballerina, Kaitlynn developed a movement disorder called dystonia and became unable to walk, talk, feed herself or hold a pencil for years. Her family brought her to Phoenix Children’s Hospital after being told by a neurologist in another state there wasn’t anything that could be done for her.

Last month, we were faced with an important problem here at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Several of the Radio Flyer wagons that we use to transport young patients around the Hospital had gone missing and needed to be replaced. These wagons provide invaluable comfort to little ones who are already dealing with a lot while in an unfamiliar environment.

When we started our Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to replace some missing wagons, we had no idea how quickly and generously people would respond. Within 12 hours of starting the campaign we had met our goal of $1500! We are totally blown away by your support!

Bruce Wayne — who, of course, is a well-known philanthropist — is a supporter of Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Mr. Wayne periodically invites some of the hospital’s patients and families to Wayne Labs for a visit.