Making Our Mark

Martha McDermott, Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center

For the past two years, Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center has partnered with the Make Your Mark Foundation. The Foundation continues the legacy of Mark Staehely, a young boy from Shorewood who had suffered with neuroblastoma and spent every major holiday in a Chicago hospital for more than a year. Seeing the sadness in the faces of the children hospitalized over Christmas, he made it his goal that every child would have Christmas toys. Seeing the smiles and happiness the toys brought to the children, he decided that he could do more. What started as 150 toys in 2001 grew to over 18,000 toys in 2006 — enough toys for every child in the hospital. Sadly, Mark passed away in March 2006, but his family and friends — spearheaded by Mark’s mom, Sue — would not let the memory, or traditions, of this extremely brave boy stop. Together, they kept Mark’s spirit alive by organizing a 5K race to raise money to bring gifts to the sick children at Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center and other Chicago-land hospitals.

This year, I volunteered to help at the event, and I was moved at how deeply committed the Medical Center’s event organizers were. The care and compassion they had for this family and this cause was visible through their actions and words, and their devotion to making this a success in Mark’s memory. When I saw how deeply they care for this family and event, it gave me chills and inspired me to become more involved. They both carry this same passion into their work, and I know that their patients must be extremely well cared for because of the love for what they do each and every day.

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