Michal Powell’s Christmas gift came early. The 2015 Crystal Charity Ball chair thought she was just going to the Dallas Country Club for dinner on Tuesday, December 2, with husband Loyd. No big deal. But then she walked into a private dining room and discovered 22 very close friends and family including Baylor Health Care System CEO Joel Allison and Baylor Health Care System Foundation President Robin Robinson.
The occasion? More about that later. First a little history.
It seems that a couple of years ago, CCB received an application to provide funding for North Texas babies diagnosed with spina bifida to have surgery while in-utero. It was an amazing operation available in Houston but not North Texas, forcing mothers to relocate for surgery and post-op monitoring. This meant mothers were separated from their husbands and their families in most cases for weeks and possibly months.
However, Dr. Kevin Magee and his Fetal Care Center at Baylor were on the brink of providing a breathtaking procedure. It had the baby no-bigger-than-a-Barbie-Doll being literally taken out of the womb and a pediatric surgeon sealing the spine’s opening.
Unfortunately, because of so many requests, this one just didn’t make the CCB cut.
It was during her volunteer work at Camp John Marc that Michal witnessed how devastating the birth defect was and how the surgery could truly make a dramatic difference in the children’s lives and those of their families. No, none of Michal’s family had suffered from the disease, but that didn’t matter. She wanted to do more. Husband Loyd understood and deeply appreciated his wife’s personal and emotional involvement. But what could he do? He was an oilman, not a doctor. So, he reached out to Joel and Robin for a solution.
Back to the Dallas Country Club. The real reason for the get-together was to tell Michal that Loyd had made “two nice gifts” to make the surgeries possible at Baylor. There were no photographers to capture the tears, surprise and embraces. Cameras weren’t necessary because no one present would ever forget the reactions of all in the room.
It was truly the kind of gift that reflects the season. Loyd gave Michal the gift that allowed her to provide others with life-changing happiness. Better than “The Gift of the Magi.”
Michal is the real deal. What an amazing woman. Can’t wait to work with her in Crystal Charity Ball this year!
xoxo- Tanya
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Fabulous story. We had this exact problem in our family 8 years ago. The pregnant mom (also a doctor) was living in Arkansas and her Air Force pilot was serving in Afganistan. I was in a meeting and I mentioned this problem to Dr. Kern Wildenthal at UTSW. He immediately got up and excused himself from the room. Minutes later he returned with a doctor and quietly introduced us. This doc explained that his good friend doctor in St Louis was about to go to be transferred to Vanderbilt Med Center where this operation was taking place. That night he had called Vanderbilt and the Fetal Care Center doctor was talking to the mom.Long story short, the pregnant Mom flew to Vanderbilt (where she had grad from med school) and went through the tests in order to qualify as it is very specific … She then made it through the trials and was picked to proceed with the operation. James IV is now a healthy, happy young boy able to do all the activities like his friend. Three cheers for the Powells! And a big thank you to Kern for his quiet, caring heart….and you Jean for printing the story.