Children's hospice in danger of closing

Reporting from San Leandro, Calif. -- At this late date, about the only thing Mary Stark can protect her son from is bad news.

Brandon is dying. He spends much of the day in an old La-Z-Boy recliner that his father rigged on wheels. A NASCAR quilt his mother made is tucked up under his chin. His ventilator hisses quietly.

Stark's son is in "his favorite place in the world." Not a hospital, not his bedroom, but by the nurses' station at George Mark Children's House, the only free-standing hospice and respite-care center for children in the country.
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More is at stake than just the well-being of families. Nearly a dozen facilities, modeled after this hospice, are in the works nationwide. George Mark's failure would be a blow to their prospects and to a medical discipline, which, at 10 years old in the United States, is still as youthful as many of its patients.

"It would be devastating for the whole newly emerging field of pediatric palliative care," said Dr. Barbara Sourkes, director of palliative care at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. "Across the country, George Mark stands for so much. It would send an absolutely terrible message."

Video about the hospice....http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-childrens-hospice-ss,0,5936528.htmlstory

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-children-hospice28-2009mar28,0,2200801.story

Bonuses...BAH!!! Those financial bastards have no shame.

neurological disorder (PSP) that killed Dudley Moore. It was a 5-year horror show which left her mind almost totally intact but her muscles frozen stiff. She had Hospice Care for the last two years of her life, even for the final year that she spent in a nursing home. What a blessing they were for the family, but especially for Mom, providing emotional and spiritual peace for all. Again, I just can't say enough.

This kind of support for dying children and their families is so needed. I hope the story ignites a flood of donations to keep them going.