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Every day, donors like you make gifts of all sizes to build a healthier future for children and expectant mothers. Your support makes our hospital a special place for our patients and families, and we are tremendously grateful.

Brad and Ginny Murray Select Packard Children’s as a Beneficiary of Their Charitable Remainder Trust 

Brad Murray's baby sister was turning blue. Born with a heart condition, she wasn’t getting the oxygen she needed. 

Luckily, she was at the right hospital at the right time. It was the 1960s, and Stanford cardiologists were making news for finding a solution to “blue baby syndrome.” Norman Shumway, MD, a pioneer in heart surgery, successfully repaired Brad’s sister’s heart. The Murray family was deeply grateful, and as Brad grew up, he never forgot the impact that receiving extraordinary care could have on the life of a child. 

Brad’s wife, Ginny, had similar memories of watching a family member receive life-saving care. This time it was at the hands of renowned pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Frank Hanley, MD. Ginny’s niece was born with tetralogy of Fallot, a complex congenital heart condition for which Dr. Hanley had developed a unique procedure to solve.

So when it came time for the Saratoga couple to select a cause to support with their charitable remainder trust (CRT), the decision was easy. 

“Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is a special place where families can find compassionate support, education, and respite from stressful health challenges,” says Brad. “We are proud to be able to support them in their work.” 

Several years ago, Brad and Ginny donated real estate to fund a CRT and received a tax deduction for a portion of the appraised property value. Initially, they were trustees of the CRT, but once the property was sold last year, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health became the trustee. 

“The wonderful part of a charitable remainder trust is that our family can receive an income stream, but the remainder goes to our favorite charities,” Ginny says. “We hope that our gift is able to help many children and families.” 

Thank you, Brad and Ginny, for your generous support of our patients and their families through your CRT!

Delta Air Lines Sponsors the 8th Annual Summer Scamper

We thank Delta Air Lines for its commitment of $75,000 as our first-ever Platinum-level sponsor for Summer Scamper, as well as its support for our Teen Health Van. The 8th annual Summer Scamper 5k, 10k, and kids’ fun run will take place on June 24 at Stanford.

Giorgi Family Gives to Allergy Center to Honor Daughter with a Big Heart 

Thirteen-year-old Natalie Giorgi loved Disneyland, the ocean, gymnastics, and Giants’ baseball games. She proudly wore iridescent periwinkle hearing aids, pointing them out whenever she saw younger children with hearing devices. Inspired by stories of care she’d received as a premature infant, she wanted to be a neonatologist. Or maybe a marine biologist who would help save the oceans. Like millions of children worldwide, including her twin sister, Danielle, Natalie also had a peanut allergy. 

Her parents, Joanne and Louis, kept a nut-free household and informed others about Natalie and Danielle’s condition. The girls took care never to eat anything with nuts. But five years ago, at a summer camp with family and friends, Natalie unknowingly ate a bite of food containing peanut butter. Twenty minutes later, she had a severe allergic reaction that three EpiPen injections couldn’t stop. Natalie died despite valiant attempts by her family and first responders to save her. 

More than anything, the Giorgis want to ensure that other families will never have to experience what they did. They also want to honor and amplify their big-hearted daughter’s desire to help those who struggle. To help make this happen, they made a generous $1 million gift in Natalie’s name to Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, and the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford. The Fund in Memory of Natalie Giorgi will support Dr. Nadeau and her research and clinical team in fulfilling their mission to diagnose, treat, prevent, raise awareness of, and ultimately cure allergies and asthma for everyone, everywhere. 

“We thought we would see Natalie make change in her lifetime,” Joanne says. “Instead, we are doing it in our lifetime, in her memory.”

Second Annual Shop for Packard Is a Resounding Success 

In March, 35 local retailers, restaurants, and fitness studios hosted in-store shopping days that benefited patients and families at our hospital. Shopping festivities kicked off with a party hosted by Shreve & Co. and LumillaMingus, and continued throughout the month, with participating retailers donating a portion of sales to Packard Children’s. 

Nordstrom generously sponsored the second annual Shop for Packard. We are grateful to the wonderful community of retailers and shoppers who partnered with us to support patients and families at Packard Children’s.

Tad and Dianne Taube Commit $20 Million to the Hospital’s New Main Building 

Tad and Dianne Taube  have committed $20 million to our hospital to support the opening of the new Main building, which welcomed its first patients last December. The newly renamed Tad and Dianne Taube Pavilion houses state-of-the-art operating rooms, imaging suites, and intensive care units.

This generous donation will bring the couple’s total giving to Packard Children’s and the child health programs at Stanford University School of Medicine to more than $35 million. 

“We believe that it’s important to invest in the children of today, because they are our citizens and leaders of the next generation,” says Tad Taube. “They should be given every opportunity to grow with optimum health—one of the foremost priorities of our philanthropies. We are privileged to support the remarkable new Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford building and other important health initiatives at Stanford making a difference for children and young adults.” 

Other initiatives the Taubes have funded in recent months include the Tad and Dianne Taube Youth Addiction Initiative, which addresses the treatment and prevention of addiction during adolescence (made possible by a $9.5 million gift); the Taube Stanford Concussion Collaborative, which advances education, care, and research to protect children from concussions (a $5 million gift); and interdisciplinary research on pediatric neurodegenerative disease (a $1 million gift, plus a challenge match of $375,000). 

“This commitment to Packard Children’s Hospital aligns with our priority of providing the best resources for health care for the youth in our greater community,” says Dianne Taube. 

The Taubes’ most recent gift will support the design, construction, and purchase of equipment for Packard Children’s 521,000-square-foot Main building. The new building adds 149 patient beds for a total of 361, enabling our hospital to serve more patients than ever. Meanwhile, construction continues on parts of our hospital. On the first and fifth floors, dedicated spaces for cancer and heart programs are being created. The surgery center, to open later this year, will feature six state-of-the-art operating suites, bringing our hospital’s total to 13. Packard Children’s original building (the West building) will be expanding its preeminent center for babies and expectant mothers. 

“We planned every detail in our new hospital to provide the best care for children,” says Dennis Lund, MD, interim president and CEO, and chief medical officer, of our hospital and Stanford Children’s Health. “We are honored that Tad and Dianne Taube chose to make a difference in the lives of our patients and families through their visionary investments.”

Brain Tumor Survivor Peyton Fisher and Family Brighten the New Hospital 

Three-year-old Peyton Fisher was rushed by ambulance to Packard Children’s after a tumor the size of an egg was discovered in the back of her head. After eight hours in the operating room, Peyton’s tumor was completely removed, and a few days later the family received the good news that the tumor was benign. 

Peyton is now a healthy and vivacious 7-year-old. Her parents, Jenna and Colin Fisher, and big brother, Morgan, feel fortunate to have had a favorable outcome and are appreciative of the care Peyton received. “Adversity creates a bond to those who help you through the difficult time,” says Colin. “Our doctors were our rocks. But it’s not just one person; it’s an orchestra.”

The Fishers donated $100,000 in support of an otter mosaic panel in the new Main building and to advance pediatric neurosurgery research. The colorful artwork adorns a terrace that overlooks the Emerald Garden and is where patient families can go to quickly connect with nature without having to go downstairs. 

We are grateful to the Fisher family for brightening our Main building with art, and the lives of our patients and their families with hope. Colin says, “I think of this hospital as a happy place where solutions are found.”

Dedicated Volunteer Receives Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award 

Thank you to Esther Ellis, a volunteer at Packard Children’s and co-president of the Roth Auxiliary Board of Directors, for her remark¬able service to our hospital. 

Ellis has volunteered in the Gift Shop at Packard Children’s for the last six years and was honored in April with the President’s Volunteer Service Award in recognition of her more than 4,000 hours of service. In a ceremony held on the Stanford campus, Ellis accepted an official pin, a personalized certificate, and a letter from President Donald Trump in honor of her service. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the best in the American spirit, and encourages all Americans to improve their communities through volunteer service and civic participation. 

“Esther finds the greatest satisfaction working in the Gift Shop when she has an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s day by bringing a bit of sunshine to a child, parent, visitor, or staff member at the hospital,” says Maryellen Brady, director of volunteer services. 

Her involvement has touched many aspects of the Gift Shop. In the two years leading up to the new hospital expansion of Packard Children’s, Ellis worked with Auxiliary committees, architects, design and space planning experts, cabinet companies, and hospital staff to create plans for the new Gift Shop scheduled to open later this year. 

Esther, we’re proud of you and look forward to what you will accomplish during your next 4,000 hours of volunteer service. 

Southwest Airlines Provides Travel for Hospital Patients 

For the ninth year in a row, Southwest Airlines® has commit¬ted to help ease the burden of travel for patients and families at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. This year, the airline donated 100 roundtrip flights for our patient families to use. This donation brings the total support of Packard Children’s over the last nine years to 770 roundtrip flights for a total donation value of over $300,000.

Thank you, Southwest Airlines, for helping families who are facing serious illness.

Stanford University Students Raise Funds for Packard Children’s 

Stanford students have shown an outpouring of support for sick children receiving care nearby at Packard Children’s. In February, students held the popular annual Stanford University Dance Marathon, raising nearly $70,000 to support undercompensated care for cancer patients at Packard Children’s. The Stanford Dance Marathon, founded in 2005, has become the Bay Area’s largest student-run philanthropic event. 

Stanford athletes also showed their support. Stanford Women’s Swimming and Diving donated a swim meet, raising $2,000. Stanford Rowing raised $5,000 for pediatric brain tumor research in the Monje Lab through the Connor’s Erg Challenge hosted by the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation. Stanford Men’s Basketball named 11-year-old Ty Whisler, who is recovering from brain cancer, their honorary captain, and he gave the team a pep talk before they played Oregon (which Stanford won by 35 points, their most lopsided Pac-12 victory in 16 years!). 

Stanford fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon hosted a joint fundraiser for our hospital’s areas of greatest need with Challah for Hunger. 

Thank you, Stanford students, for supporting our patients, and to everyone who helped make their fundraisers a success!

Happy Year of the Dog! 

C.M. Capital Foundation hosted its annual Chinese New Year celebration in the main lobby of the newly expanded hospital. Participants rang in the Year of the Dog with calligraphy and paper-cutting demonstrations, a photo booth, delicious food, and the highlight of the celebration—lion dancers. In addition to dazzling patients, families, and staff in the lobby, the lion dancers brought the joy and good luck of the holiday to patients in the units. 

Thank you, C.M. Capital Foundation, for your continued support!

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2018 issue of Packard Children’s News.