Miracle Network fundraiser helps young patients

Of the people surveyed in a recent joint poll by Francis Marion University and the Morning News, 85 percent said they are concerned about paying for future medical costs for themselves and their families.
But many families already have to grapple with health-related expenses, including those whose children have been treated at McLeod Children’s Hospital.

That’s why events like Saturday’s annual Children’s Miracle Network broadcast are so important.

McLeod Children’s Hospital is one of 170 children’s hospitals in North America that make up the network.

A nonprofit organization, CMN is dedicated to helping children by raising funds and awareness for its members. Each year, its nonprofit member hospitals treat more than 17 million children afflicted with disease, injuries and birth defects of every type by providing medical care, life-saving research and preventive education regardless of a family’s ability to pay.

According to the Children’s Miracle Network, its member hospitals provide $2.5 billion in charity care every year.

Here are some other facts from CMN to consider:

• Today at one Children’s Miracle Network hospital, four children will suffer a serious traumatic injury or illness.

• Today at one Children’s Miracle Network hospital, 32 children will receive cancer treatments.

• Today at one Children’s Miracle Network hospital, 200 children will visit the emergency room.

The McLeod miracle children who have been profiled in the Morning News and on WBTW News13 this year — Maggie Bailey, Prayher and Primere Lewis, and Mitchell Driggers — represent the more than 26,000 children who received care from McLeod Children’s Hospital either as inpatient, outpatient or rehabilitation patients in 2007. They are among the hundreds whose treatment has been successful.

But while good health is priceless, achieving and maintaining it is expensive. And through last year’s CMN event, more than $887,000 was raised by residents of Pee Dee, Grand Strand and their bordering counties in North Carolina to offset the cost of these children’s care at McLeod.

This year, the 26th year of the Children’s Miracle Network broadcast at McLeod, WBTW News13 will broadcast live from 2 p.m. to midnight Saturday locally from the McLeod Children’s Hospital Child Life Activity Center in Florence and the new Hard Rock Theme Park in Myrtle Beach. Donations to McLeod Children’s Hospital can be made during the broadcast by calling (843) 665-4100 or toll-free (866) 668-4862 or by visiting the McLeod Foundation Web site at www.mcleodfoundation.org and clicking on the CMN icon for an online submission.

There’s no need to wait for the broadcast to begin, however, to contribute. We ask that readers and viewers continue to support this cause as generously as possible during this year’s event.
Remember, children’s lives are depending on it.