LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Patients who are in the hospital during the holidays miss out on time with friends and family gathered around for a wonderful meal.
This year, Alex and Tommy Gift brought the taste of Thanksgiving to patients on the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit at UofL Health – UofL Hospital.
The Gift brothers, who have given turkeys to patients with cancer and their families for the past six years, provided a catered Thanksgiving meal to BMT patients this year.
“Thanksgiving was my mom’s favorite holiday,” said Tommy Gift, cofounder of the Mary Jane Quality of Life Fund. “We thought there was no better way to honor her memory than help people that are fighting cancer.”
Mary Jane Gift lost her life to cancer in 2010. In honor of her life, her sons established the Mary Jane Gift Quality of Life Fund at the UofL Health – James Graham Brown Cancer Center as a way to help patients and their families enjoy life while facing a cancer diagnosis.
“We want to take a little pressure of these folks who are in treatment,” said Gift. “We want to let them know there are people out there they don’t know that are pulling for them.”
Each year, the Gift brothers host an annual volleyball tournament, Spike it to Cancer, to raise money for the event.
Money from the fund also supports short-term housing for BMT patients and their families who require lengthy treatment plans. The fund is administered through the cancer center’s M. Krista Loyd Resource Center.
The catered meal, complete with turkey, gravy, stuffing, and other traditional fixings served about 80 people this Thanksgiving.