Why Paying It Forward Makes Sense

Nancy and Louis Regas

Nancy and Louis Regas, 1954 Society members

By Nancy Regas, 1954 Society Member

Rady Children's Hospital has been in my life for a very long time. When reflecting back on this, it makes sense that we pay it forward with a gift that provides care for other children and their families in the future.

As a perinatal educator in the '70s, I taught Lamaze and a variety of other classes to couples who would soon deliver their babies at Sharp Hospital. I reassured the parents they would be right next door to—and just a tunnel away from—the safety net known as Children's Hospital. Little did I know that several years later, my husband, Louis, would make his own tunnel run from Sharp to Children's Hospital, racing alongside the nurse and our baby girl—born two months preterm.

Children's Hospital became the guardians of our precious second-born daughter. Nine weeks, countless trips back and forth to the hospital, and 3,000 miles later, we joyfully brought her home. Through the years our relationship with the hospital deepened as new diagnoses, requiring more hospitalizations, were made. The doctors, nurses and staff took impeccable care of our family—welcoming, soothing, reassuring and comforting us while tenderly and skillfully caring for our dear Melissa. They always referred to her by name. She was truly known by them.

In establishing our living trust decades later, we want to ensure that Rady Children's will grow and care for other children and families as they cared for ours. We believe in linking ourselves to something worthy; creating a legacy that includes Rady Children's felt right for many reasons.

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