Heroes Like You
Who makes our mission possible?
Heroes like you.
Being a hero doesn’t require rushing into a burning building to save lives. The definition is a bit broader than that and requires only the selfless attempt (and intent) to benefit others through some amount of personal sacrifice. When you give your assets to support world-class medical care and bold, innovative research, you become a hero—at least to the kids and their families whose lives are changed by our work.
What does a hero look like? Here are just a few of the supporters who have helped us care for every child counting on us.
Dave Weiper
Dave Weiper learned a lot from his mother—the importance of compassion, the art of helping others, and how to leave a legacy.
"As long as I can remember, my mom was always helping kids, making sure they had the best chance to succeed," Dave says. "That's why I became interested in children's causes and have a strong affinity for them. She instilled that in me."
Like his mother, Dave wanted to help children. When he learned about our new Critical Care Building (CCB), he saw an opportunity to make an impact. The state-of-the-art patient care tower added 249 private rooms for our most fragile and complex patients—transforming how families experience our care.
"After touring the new building, it seems like they've thought about every last detail in caring for the kids who have to come in," he says. "I think about all of the kids who start life with devastating diseases, pain, and adversity, and it's something that they don't deserve."
That's why he named a garden space honoring his mother in the CCB and has included a significant bequest in his will to support our Charitable Care Fund. This gift will provide financial assistance to families who face overwhelming bills related to the care and survival of their child. His gifts not only help the families in greatest need but also honor his mother's giving spirit.
"I know there are a lot of families who might not have insurance or enough money to pay for the type of treatments their child needs," he says. "I hope this will help them through some of their toughest times."
Logan Blackburn
What do Shea and Ken do when their child reaches milestones that once seemed impossible? They tell everyone, they celebrate—and they even give back.
When their son Logan was just 3 weeks old, he was rushed to the medical center with a blood clot in his brain that caused seizures and strokes. Shea and Ken feared the worst for their baby boy.
"He had four brain surgeries," Shea says, "but amazingly, we were able to take him home six weeks later. Cincinnati Children's saved his life."
Now 7 years old, Logan is exceeding expectations with help from our experts in neurosurgery, neurology, ENT, therapy, ophthalmology, and the Perlman Center—our multidisciplinary clinic that addresses the needs of kids and adults with physically limiting conditions. He goes to school and loves to read. Even though he's not talking, he and his family are learning to use an assistive communication device.
Shea and Ken are so grateful for their son's care that they've raised funds for our new Critical Care Building and are naming a room in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Logan's honor. But they wanted to do even more.
They decided to include the medical center in their estate plan, creating a long-lasting legacy of support. "The Legacy Planning Team at Cincinnati Children's helped us through the whole process," Shea says. "It was as easy as could be."
Because of generous families like Logan's, we're able to give critically ill children the life-saving care they need.
Gilbert Vice
Gilbert Vice was 6 years old when he first came to Cincinnati Children's. He remembers having surgery to remove a cyst from his neck and making mischief with another patient when they were playing with a wheelchair in the hallway.
But it wasn't until he became a father that he truly understood the impact of our care.
"My child spent their first four weeks of life in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit," Gilbert says. Like many preemies, they required supplemental oxygen and were suspected of having necrotizing enterocolitis, a life-threatening condition.
Yet even during some of their darkest hours, Gilbert and his wife, Phyllis, were able to count their blessings.
"I was lucky to have a good job and good insurance," he says. "While we were at the hospital, we met a lot of other parents who weren't so lucky. There were caps on the number of days their insurance would pay for the hospital stay. Or they didn't have any insurance at all. So many families were wondering how they were going to pay for their child's care."
Gilbert and his wife watched as their child grew, and the doctors agreed their child was strong enough to go home. And when they did, they continued to put on even more weight and progress normally. Gilbert and his wife knew it could've been a very different outcome had they not received the expert care they got from Cincinnati Children's.
Over the years Gilbert and his family lived frugally. He was always mindful about the future, saving in his 401K plan. Since Gilbert is older than 70-and-a-half, there are required minimum distributions (RMDs) he must take annually from his account. Among other charities, he donates part of his RMDsdirectly to Cincinnati Children's as qualified charitable distributions. This provides tax advantages to his family, while allowing him to help those who are less fortunate.
"Because of my experience meeting people in the NICU, I know how important it is to give back," Gilbert says. "It really touches you when you're in that situation. I always wanted to help in any way that I could."
And because Gilbert knows that every parent, regardless of their financial situation, just wants their child to get better, he will continue his legacy after he and his wife pass away. He has named Cincinnati Children's as a beneficiary of his IRA, which will help us improve the lives of children and families who rely on us for generations to come.
Wendy Rolf
As a child, Wendy Rolf dreamed of growing up to be a nurse. She wanted to provide hope and healing for kids, just as she'd seen nurses do for her brother after he went into the hospital for a severe head injury.
The very same day she graduated from the Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in 1976, she headed straight to Cincinnati Children's for an interview. Hours later, she was hired.
"Some of my best friends today are the nurses I met back then," Wendy says. "We were like a family. I was perfectly happy."
But Wendy did far more at the medical center than make lasting friendships. She went on to receive master's degrees in community health, health education, and occupational health.
In 1998, she worked alongside her colleague Deb Kaiser and a small team of nurses to establish the Holistic Health Department at Cincinnati Children's—known today as Integrative Care. The program provides holistic care and support for kids and families during the healing process.
As our experts deliver the world-class, innovative medical care the hospital is known for, the Integrative Care team works in partnership with medical teams to teach effective ways to reduce stress, pain, discomfort, and anxiety through evidence-informed approaches such as healing touch, mind-body practices, and clinical massage therapy.
Thanks to Wendy's help, our Integrative Care program has grown over the years to become one of the largest and most renowned in the country, serving as a model for other hospitals that turn to us for guidance.
"It's about love and compassion. Holistic care means treating the whole person—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually," Wendy shares. "It also means caring for the family and the medical team, which in turn helps the child. It's all connected."
Wendy has always been passionately committed to her work. So much so, that even in retirement, she continues to serve the kids and families who need us. She recently planned a gift through her will benefiting our Division of Child Life and Integrative Care. For her, it's a way to ensure that the program she started and helped cultivate can live on and continue offering these important services.
"In my life, being able to do the work I loved to do at Cincinnati Children's was a gift to me," says Wendy. "To be able to give a little something back means more to me than I can put into words."
Bill and Jenny McCloy
For Bill and Jenny McCloy, their son Sam has always been a source of inspiration to help others in the community.
"Sam is our motivation," Bill says. "We think of kids like him—and the families who don't have the resources they need when facing similar challenges—and we want to help."
Twenty-six years ago, Sam was born with Down syndrome. It came as a shock to Bill and Jenny, and though they didn't know what to expect, our team at the Thomas Center for Down Syndrome was there to help them navigate their child's care needs.
"Cincinnati Children's has impressed us from the beginning," Jenny explains. "They provided a wealth of not only information but also support for our family. Their caliber of care got us interested in helping out however we could."
The McCloys are long-time donors of the medical center and have been supporting the Thomas Center for years. They understand that philanthropy is key to improving care, advancing research, and raising awareness and advocacy—so that others like Sam can lead a happy and healthy life.
Yet they wanted to do even more. Recently, the McCloys made the decision to include Cincinnati Children's in their will, creating a legacy of ongoing care for the families who rely on us.
"The Legacy Planning team did a great job of making it simple and efficient," Bill explains. "It's such an easy and meaningful way to help—and you don't have to be a millionaire to make a tremendous impact."
Today, now more than ever, families of children with Down syndrome can expect and plan for a bright and productive future thanks to charitable partners, like the McCloy family.
In fact, the establishment of the Thomas Center was made possible because of philanthropy. As part of our Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, we provide ongoing support and individualized therapies to help kids with Down syndrome at home, in school, and in the community.
"Sam is the light of our life," Jenny says. "This is his legacy too—inspiring others to help kids like him."