Rooms Filled With Hope will open the door to improving the care and comfort of children with cancer

Inside The Rooms Filled With Hope

The Connor’s Heroes Family Room is for a parent to decompress or families to visit outside of a child’s hospital room. Connor’s Heroes will do arts and crafts, serve a sweet treat, or meet with a family to give them a Heroes Bag and Backpack.

The Connor’s Heroes Consult Room is for caregivers or family to have a private conversation with their child’s support care team. 

The Connor’s Heroes BMT Play Room is designed with the health needs of the BMT patient in mind who oftentimes must remain isolated from other patients.

The Connor’s Heroes Respite Room is for nurses and support care teams to get away and focus on their emotional, psychological, and physical wellness.

The Jamie Hess Bone Marrow Transplant Lab is where staff will prepare transplant supplies without having to leave the unit. This will maximize efficiency and quality of a child’s bone marrow transplant. The lab is named after Jamie Hess who died from leukemia in 2002.

During construction, childhood cancer hero families, Connor’s Heroes staff, and board members toured the Wonder Tower. Zach Isbell gave the tours. Zach is the Project Manager and Connor’s Heroes Board Member.

Explore the Children’s Tower. Click here to see CHoR’s website for a virtual tour of each floor.

A Grateful Family Made Historic a Gift

A Richmond family, grateful for the support Connor’s Heroes gave their teenage daughter during her cancer treatment, made a $500,000 commitment to Connor’s Heroes. It is the largest gift in Connor’s Heroes history. 

“They made this donation with a simple request: continue to give families hope, guidance, and support” said Celia. “Their generosity will provide our childhood cancer families with resources and support in the five rooms named for Connor’s Heroes. Their gift has transformed how we care for a child with cancer.”

They designated part of the gift to fund the Rooms Filled With Hope campaign.

Child Life Specialist

The gift also funded a Child Life Specialist (CLS) at Children’s Hospital of VCU. Meredith Burns, MS, CCLS, joined the Connor’s Heroes team at the end of February 2022. Meredith focuses on supporting pediatric hematology and oncology patients admitted to the hospital and BMT Unit. She coordinates a family’s care with Connor’s Heroes Program Team, made up of Erin and Anne-Randolph.

Meredith said, “Throughout treatment, CCLS can provide emotional support on hard days, as well as opportunities for play and fun. I believe patients need to feel like children, even though they are in the hospital.”

Rooms Filled With Hope Sponsors

Thank you to the following people and organizations who donated to The Rooms Filled With Hope Capital Campaign. You raised $250,000 in record-time. If your name was mistakenly omitted, please contact (804) 897-1272.

If you are interested in supporting caring for childhood cancer heroes in the new Wonder Tower, download our Legacy Giving Guide [LINK TO PDF]. And contact Celia at celia@connorsheroes.org or (804) 897-1272. 

SUPERHERO LEVEL
AT&T Services, Inc. • Mr. and Mrs. Steven Cherry • Mr. and Mrs. Brian Daly • Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Esparza • Ms. Lisa Goodwin • Jackson Healthcare • KVCF PLC • Drs. James and Katie Tyson

HERO LEVEL
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Fergerson • Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fledderman • Dr. and Mrs. Randall Geldreich • Mr. and Mrs. Matt Griffin • Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Martin • Mr. and Mrs. Scotty Southall • Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Wright

SIDEKICK LEVEL
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Gardner • Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hess • Mr. and Mrs. Chris Markley • Mr. and Mrs. Brett Memoli • RBC • Mr. and Mrs. Michael Schleinkofer • Mr. Kirk Tower and Ms. Robin Fisher

PARTNER LEVEL
Mr. Mathew Burton • Dr. Debra Cantor and Mr. Paul Cantor • Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Cassano • Ms. Ann Hoggatt • Mr. John Ivins • Mr. and Mrs. Richard Martin • Mr. Hadar Pedhazur and Ms. Lois Snitkoff• Mr. and Mrs. James Strum • Towne Bank

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Askin • Ms. Tanja Atkins-Nelson • Mrs. Chris Badura • Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Baker • Mr. Robert Beech • Mrs. Elizabeth Birkenbeuel • Mr. and Mrs. Jack Bise, Jr. • Mr. and Mrs. Bob Blunkosky • Ms. Joanne Brady • Mrs. Susan Bullock • Ms. Becky Clarke • Mr. and Mrs. Charles Clemens • Ms. Dorothea Clingenpeel • Ms. Terri Cothron • Mr. and Mrs. Matt Cross • Mr. Claude Daniel • Ms. Sarah Davis • Ms. Emily De Luca • Mrs. Liesl Delisio • Mr. and Mrs. Dave Depman • Mr. and Mrs. Parker Dillard • Ms. Kelli Duffy • Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery Edwards • Mr. Matthew Enderle and Ms. Laura Pollard • Mr. Dylan Franklin • Mr. Brian Fuller • Mr. Paul Grime • Mr. James Heizer Jr. • The Honorable and Mrs. Gary Hicks • Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Hill • Mr. Brian Hostetler • Mr. and Mrs. Zach Isbell • Mrs. Deborah Kern • Ms. Beth-Ann Krimsky • Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lisanti • Mrs. Kristen Lyon • Mr. and Mrs. Will Maixner • Mrs. Christy Martin • Mr. Elmo Martin • Mr. Jerry Milwit • Mr. and Mrs. William Mohler • Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Moore • Ms. Patricia Murray • Mrs. Nancy Nance • Mrs. Jennifer Nary • Mr. and Mrs. Ellis Norris • Ms. Jennifer Owen • Mr. and Mrs. Charles Peters • Mr. and Mrs. William Pritchard • Mr. and Mrs. Chase Proffitt • Mrs. Patricia ReShore • Mr. Norbert D. Robinson • Mr. and Mrs. Waldemar Sander Jr. • Mr. and Mrs. John Schwartz • Ms. Kara Sendell • Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Shalaski • Mr. and Mrs. Steve Slaughter • Ms. Julia Stewart • Ms. Cindy Stubbe and Mr. Lawrence Mescan • Ms. Kathleen Sylla • Ms. Sally Tirs • Dr. Michelle Wagner-Merrion • Mrs. Stacey White • Mr. and Mrs. Bill Wilkinson • Mr. and Mrs. Craig Will • Dr. and Mrs. Kurt Williams • Ms. Corinne Wirtes • Mrs. Ellen Zang