Posts by mariahmcclerkin

When Kelly Penn took her two-year-old, Charlotte, to the pediatrician after one of her eyes appeared to be crossing, she learned surgery was needed to preserve Charlotte’s vision. “Both of her eyes were crossed, and if she remained that way she would continue to lose vision,” said Kelly, a Medical Assistant in Virginia. “We could…

As a medical technologist with 36 years of experience, Dan Starck understood too well how serious his 29-year-old son Justin’s cancer diagnosis was. “It was incurable from day one,” Dan said. The initial diagnosis gave him just two years. From the time he was diagnosed, Justin and his family fought back with chemotherapy and multiple…

Hurricane Katrina nearly took away everything that mattered to Lillie McClain, a patient care technician in Louisiana. The storm toppled three large trees onto Lillie’s home, demolishing it. Her two older girls, Kayla and Jada, were covered with glass, but unhurt. Courtney, then just 16months old, was gasping for breath. “I knew time was limited,”…

Meet the Mitchell family. Becky, an office manager based in Texas, recently received Hope Fund assistance, and sent in this touching note about the difference it made in her family’s life. We wanted to share it with all of you. Thank you for supporting our HCA Healthcare colleagues like Becky through your support of the…

The HCA Healthcare Hope Fund receives requests for assistance from our colleagues in need all year long, but when the COVID-19 pandemic began the number of incoming applications tripled. Over the last 2 months more than $1.3 million in critical COVID-related assistance has been provided to help our colleagues and another $1.2 million to families…

At some point in our lives, we all experience the pain of losing a loved one. We can relate to and support one another during these trying times. But no one ever expects to lose a child who you have loved and raised. This is what happened to Shirley Hagen, a radiology coordinator at West…

At 35 years old, Colorado-based nurse Caroline Mrlik Ames got married, travelled for her honeymoon, and bought a house. There was so much excitement and everything was falling into place. Then just six months later, she was totally blindsided with a cancer diagnosis that would change everything All of a sudden, her life was filled…

Traci Patton is a Licensed Master Social Worker based in Texas. She has a husband, six children, two dogs and a cat. Last year, Traci started having occasional days where she felt very tired. Her father encouraged her to visit her doctor and request medical tests to determine the cause of her fatigue. All of…