Gratitude in Action: Why We Gave Back to the Place That Saved Meadow’s Life
I want to start with Meadow.
My daughter was born with Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, a complex congenital heart defect that changes the way blood flows through the heart and to the lungs.
Her first heart surgery was at six days old. By the time she was five months old, she had undergone six surgeries total, two of which were open heart.
If Meadow had been born even fifty years ago with her set of heart defects, she would not have survived past birth.
Let that sit for a moment.
The reason my daughter is alive, the reason she is here and growing and thriving, is because of the medical advances that came before her. Because of the researchers, the surgeons, the physicians, and the institutions that refused to stop asking what was possible. Because of Norton Children’s Heart Institute.
And that is why our family made the decision to give back.
Why We Decided to Give Back
I want to be honest about something before I share this part of our story: going public with this gift was deeply uncomfortable for us.
Meadow was born just six weeks after we sold our business. Those two things happening so close together, the end of one chapter and the most terrifying beginning of another, shaped everything about how we thought about giving back. This gift to Norton Children’s is our family’s first major act of philanthropy. We have given in smaller, quieter ways, but nothing like this. And the decision to do it publicly, to put our name on it, did not come naturally to us. We went back and forth on it for a long time.
What ultimately moved us was this: we believe that visibility matters. When families who have walked this road speak up, it gives other families permission to hope. And if our story could do that for even one family in the thick of a diagnosis somewhere, the discomfort of going public was worth it.
In July 2024, we made a $15 million dollar legacy gift to Norton Children’s Hospital to dedicate the Norton Children’s Congenital Heart Center in Meadow’s honor. The gift is an investment in cutting-edge cardiac care and in advancing the treatment of congenital heart defects. It is, at its heart, an investment in the children who haven’t been born yet. The ones who will come into this world with hearts that need extraordinary care, and who deserve every possible chance at a full life.
Philanthropy Is Not the Only Way to Advocate
I want to be very clear about something, because it matters deeply to me.
Philanthropy is one part of the advocacy equation. It is not the only part. It is not even the most important part for most families.
If you are a CHD parent in the NICU/CICU right now, or navigating a diagnosis you didn’t see coming, or trying to figure out how to explain your child’s heart to the rest of the world, you are already advocating. Every time you share your story, you advocate. Every time you correct a misconception about congenital heart disease, you advocate. Every time you show up for another heart family, you advocate.
You do not need a large gift to make a difference in this space. You need your voice. And your voice is enough.
We gave this gift because it was the right expression of gratitude for our family, at this moment in our lives. But advocacy looks different for everyone, and every form of it matters.
For the Families Who Come After
Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect in the world. Nearly one in one hundred babies is born with a heart defect. And yet it remains one of the most underfunded areas of pediatric research relative to its prevalence.
We want to change that. We want the children born ten, twenty, fifty years from now to have even more options than Meadow had. We want the families who are walking the same road we walked to have access to even better care, even more advanced treatments, even more reasons to hope.
That is what this gift is for. Not recognition. Not legacy in the traditional sense. It is for love. Love for the families who are in the thick of it right now, and love for the children who will need this care long after we are gone.
If You Are a CHD Family
I see you. I know what it is to receive news you weren’t prepared for. I know what it is to watch your child go through things no child should have to go through, and to feel completely powerless and completely determined at the same time.
You are not alone in this. The CHD community is one of the most fierce, loving, and resilient communities I have ever been part of. And if there is anything our family’s story can do, I hope it is this: I hope it makes you feel a little less alone. I hope it reminds you that the road forward, however hard, is one that other families have walked. And I hope it gives you one more reason to believe that your child’s story is still being written.
Meadow is here today because someone showed up for kids like her before we ever knew she existed. This gift is our way of showing up for the ones who come next. And if you are in the middle of this journey right now, we are showing up for you too.
To learn more about congenital heart disease awareness and research, visit the Children’s Heart Foundation at childrensheartfoundation.org. To support Norton Children’s Heart Institute directly, visit nortonchildrens.com/donate.
