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YADIRA GONZALEZ  and   As a tribute to Mariana,
Volunteers,  combined service hours children and families
When I was 12 years old, I was a patient at at Texas Children’s,
Texas Children’s for a month. I was very Karla Goudet’s family
ill, and I was diagnosed with Crohn’s dis- donated a mural on the
ease, which is a painful inflammatory bow- third floor of West
el disorder. During that month, I met many Tower and Mariana’s
nurses who were so caring and kindhearted. Place, a multisensory
I was treated like a queen, and I could not center, on the 16th floor.
have asked for a better facility than Texas
Children’s Hospital.

That was eight years ago. I’ve now de-
cided to become a nurse, and my experi-
ence at Texas Children’s is a big part of
that decision.

KATHY AND KEVIN SNOW

In 2007 our granddaughter, Hannah, was
born with a congenital heart defect. She
had surgery at 10 days old, 7 months old
and 4 years old. We spent many hours, days
and months in the NICU and CVICU and
on the 15th floor.

While we were there, we observed the
love, care, concern and spirituality at Texas
Children’s. After Hannah’s second surgery,
we knew it was time for us to give back as
volunteers. We had the time, the patience
and the love we could share with other fam-
ilies and children of any age.

By the time Hannah had her third sur-
gery, the nurses knew us as volunteers. That
was an awesome feeling. We feel like we
are part of the team at Texas Children’s and
not just grandparents of a patient.

We call Texas Children’s “the place of
miracles.”

  ’ 