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What is Carolinas HealthCare Foundation?
Carolinas HealthCare Foundation serves as the primary point of contact for individual, foundation and corporate charitable support of Carolinas HealthCare System (a self-supporting, public, not-for-profit healthcare provider.) The Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Why should I contribute to Carolinas HealthCare Foundation?
Financial contributions help provide the resources necessary to maintain the highest level of excellence and patient support in our medical programs and services. Your individual acts of generosity help improve the quality of life for people in our region today and into the future.
Philanthropic gifts have always been important to Carolinas HealthCare System. Since its beginnings in 1939, gracious donors have significantly contributed to the growth and success of CHS programs and services.
How will my contribution be used?
Many donors elect to designate a hospital service or program as the recipient of their gift – to a fund that supports ovarian cancer research, or to cardiovascular rehabilitation. A donor may also choose to make an unrestricted gift to the Foundation. At the discretion of the Board of Directors, these gifts are designated for areas where needs are most critical and urgent.
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Home > Spotlight > Infants and Children > ‘Princess Darien’ lives her fairy-tale dreams
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‘Princess Darien’ lives her fairy-tale dreams |
Like many young girls, Darien Gray loved princesses. She loved prancing around in fancy dresses. When she was 3, though, Darien heard a word no princess should ever hear: cancer.
When her mother, Ronna, took her in for a routine check-up one morning, the doctor noticed Darien’s liver was enlarged. By that afternoon, Darien and her parents found themselves at Levine Children’s Hospital. There, specialists determined that she had leukemia.
Over the next few weeks and months, Darien was a regular at Levine Children’s Hospital. She became known far and wide for her wit, spirit and sunny disposition. She regularly walked the halls donning gowns from her favorite Disney princess movies. Her smile and knock-knock jokes charmed the doctors, nurses and other patients who were invited to her frequent “royal tea parties” in her hospital room. Her oncologist, Dr. Javier Oesterheld, said Darien “had a spirit that could light up a room.” It’s no wonder everyone called her “Princess Darien.”
Immediately after arriving at Levine Children’s Hospital, Darien started aggressive chemotherapy treatments of three to four drugs, which doctors hoped would put the cancer in remission. Unfortunately, her body didn’t respond to the treatments. After administering three unsuccessful rounds of chemotherapy, doctors determined that Darien’s best hope for a long-term remission would be a bone marrow transplant.
But she had no perfect match. The closest anybody came to matching her bone marrow was her father, Deon, who was a half-match.
Here’s where Darien’s story takes a fairy-tale twist. Fortunately, Levine Children’s Hospital is one of only a few in the entire United States that is able to perform bone marrow transplants on children in which the parents are not perfect matches. That’s because generous donors have helped fund the research and infrastructure that allows those kinds of complicated operations in Charlotte.
To Darien and her family, that meant that she could stay close to home while receiving some of the best care available anywhere.
Because of that, Deon was able to give his daughter the gift of life – for the second time.
More than one year after the transplant, “Princess Darien” has emerged stronger than ever. At her house, she even has a brand new “royal subject,” her baby brother, DJ.
When Darien grows up, she says she dreams of becoming a “Princess Doctor Firefighter.” And, while her dreams may seem odd or fantastic, her “royal keepers” are just thrilled that she will now be able to spend a lifetime making them come true.
Darien’s dad, Deon, says he’s thankful Levine Children’s Hospital is a part of the community: “They treated us like family from day one. … Everybody that’s been there behind us, God bless you and thank you.”
About Pediatric Cancer funds
There are two major funds administered by Carolinas HealthCare Foundation that support pediatric cancer patients.
The Pediatric Cancer Fund supports patient and family support activities, capital improvements and research programs associated with Carolinas Medical Center’s Pediatric Oncology division.
In addition, pediatric cancer patients are also helped by contributions to the Carolinas Kids Cancer Research Fund. That fund supports Phase I and Phase II clinical trials at Levine Children’s Hospital, which brings the most advanced treatments to children in the Carolinas.
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