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Nemours Health Care Heroes Virtual Celebration How your support of this annual fundraiser for Nemours Children’s Hospital will positively impact families in our community.

By Lyndsay Fogarty

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our sense of normal. But for one Central Florida mother, “normal” changed for her family in June 2019.

It was then that Timidigi “Timi” Tadawei faced a harrowing diagnosis: her 2-year-old daughter, Christabel, had stage two kidney cancer. Living in Nigeria at the time, the family spent several frustrating months trying to find the right care for their daughter. In September 2019, they settled with family in Central Florida, where Timi found hope at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Lake Nona, Medical City.

As COVID-19 began to spread in our communities in March 2020, Timi found herself in need of additional resources with six more months of Christabel’s chemo treatment on the horizon. A dedicated Nemours social worker connected her with support made possible through the Nemours Patient Impact Fund.

Funded by the generosity of corporate and private donors, this fund provides access to vital services that directly enhance and support the patient and family experience at Nemours Children’s Hospital. This includes insurance and medication support, meals, transportation, translation services, chaplain services, technology advancements and more.

It may come as a surprise that more than 70% of patients at Nemours Children’s Hospital are Medicaid recipients or uninsured. Many have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including Timi’s family.

Even with months of added pandemic fears, strict safety protocols and the need for personal protective equipment, nothing could dampen the celebration when Christabel rang the bell to signal the end of her yearlong cancer treatments in August.

The pandemic has changed the way that nonprofits connect with the community to raise vital funds to help patients like Christabel.

The annual Nemours fundraising gala is known as one of the best parties with a purpose, but the on-going effects of the pandemic have required Nemours to think differently. Instead of a black-tie affair in a hotel ballroom, Nemours is bringing the celebration directly into supporters’ homes through the Nemours Health Care Heroes Virtual Celebration.

On Nov. 7, Joey Fatone (*NSYNC, “Dancing with the Stars”) and Nancy Alvarez (WFTV Eyewitness News anchor) will co-host an interactive online experience featuring stories of hope and healing. Expect exciting entertainment from Dance It Studio’s ballroom dancers and musical performances from local band, Audio Exchange, and Alyssa Raghu (“American Idol”).

While the virtual celebration is free to stream, virtual tickets that in

Nemours Health Care Heroes Virtual Celebration

Date: November 7 Time: 6:30 p.m. (pre-show), 7 p.m. (main event)

Details: Registration to stream is free. Virtual tickets begin at $150.

For more information about this virtual celebration, including details about how you can be a hero for a child or family at Nemours, visit www.Nemours.org/nchgala

clude ready-to-heat meals from Publix Aprons are available. Funds raised from virtual tickets, event sponsorships and donations during the event benefit the Nemours COVID-19 Community Response Fund and the Patient Impact Fund to provide exceptional care to more families and patients like Christabel.