Becky Crytser, RN, MS, who manages the cardiac rehabilitation center at Bon Secours, depends on her expert knowledge of exercise physiology and experience as a nurse to teach patients how to strengthen both muscle and confidence. But it’s her personal love of the outdoors and physical fitness that gives her extra inspiration as she helps patients reclaim the normal life skills they have lost due to injury or disease.

For a patient who had suffered a heart attack while hiking in the Rockies, Becky responded to his desire to return to mountain climbing by designing a rehab program around this goal. Starting with an empty backpack during his workouts and simulating the rigor of hiking with incline-adjustable equipment, Becky gradually added weights to his backpack. She guided her patient through a careful, goal-oriented recuperation that gave him faith that he’d one day be trekking mountaintops again.

When Becky heard that the Foundation was starting a fund dedicated to improving the lives of cardiovascular patients, she volunteered immediately. Her first effort helped to equip local volunteer rescue squads with field-based EKG transmission equipment in ambulances.  This project was just another way that Becky extends the giving she does as a nurse.  

Find out how you can begin your own Story of Giving by becoming a member of one of our foundations through the Donor Connect page. Once a member, you can log in and share your own story!

Krissy Natalini remembers desperately running barefoot through cool puddles of rain in her driveway. It was after midnight, and as she and her husband rushed from their house to St. Francis Medical Center, the couple knew they suddenly faced losing little Leila, who was only three days old when Krissy could not wake her to breastfeed.

At St. Francis, doctors made the decision to restart the infant’s heart, nudging her back from the brink of death. A uniquely equipped critical care transport vehicle funded through Bon Secours Richmond Health Care Foundation then transferred Leila to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at St. Mary’s Hospital.

After four days at St. Mary’s, the Natalinis were astounded to see Leila lift her arm--a first and miraculous sign of hope. In less than a month she was back home, and today Leila is a healthy, joyful little girl who will soon be running through puddles of her own -- thanks to the collaboratively heroic efforts of her parents, emergency responders, and dozens of nurses and doctors at  Bon Secours Virginia Health System hospitals.

See the video of Leila's miraculous story!

Find out how you can begin your own Story of Giving by becoming a member of one of our foundations through the Donor Connect page. Once a member, you can log in and share your own story!

At first glance, Benny Waldbauer might not look like your expectation of a hospice nurse, but for 10 years he has been doing this honorable work with unsurpassed passion.

Like all hospice caregivers, Benny can tell moving stories about the quiet grace of his many patients, but he is also known in the community for turning up the volume. A one-time music club owner, Benny recently decided to sponsor a unique fundraiser for our Hospice by holding a reunion concert for rock bands who played in his club more than 25 years ago. The novel idea exploded and took on a life of its own, with bands flying in from across the country to perform and local music fans rushing to contribute.

Showing the tattoo on his arm he got as a tribute to his commitment to hospice, Benny smiles when he remembers the ripple effect of generosity that started with a little rock & roll.

Find out how you can begin your own Story of Giving by becoming a member of one of our foundations through the Donor Connect page. Once a member, you can log in and share your own story!

After retiring from over 30 years of private practice in family medicine, Dr. Jameson Buston didn’t hesitate when asked to serve as Medical Director for Care-A-Van.

Because of our donors’ gifts to the Community Services/Mission/Care-A-Van CARE Fund,  the  Bon Secours Virginia Health System mobile health care operation, travels into at-risk neighborhoods and cares for nearly 1,500 people every month at no cost to the patient.

For Dr. Buston, who had previously traveled to other countries on mission trips, it was an opportunity to make a difference locally. He discovered soon, however, that the Care-A-Van travels across the world simply by riding into communities around Virginia. He has already recorded more than a hundred different languages while treating people of all ages, most of whom are poor, without insurance, and would otherwise receive no health care.

"Most of us are so privileged," he says. "We have no idea the hardships people right around us are suffering. I truly feel called to help however I can."

Find out how you can begin your own Story of Giving by becoming a member of one of our foundations through the Donor Connect page. Once a member, you can log in and share your own story!

Dr. Sherry Fox, Director of the Cullather Brain Tumor Quality of Life Center, is dedicated to improving the lives of people diagnosed with brain tumors as well as the families of these patients. Through donors’ giving to the Cullather Brain Tumor Quality of Life CARE Fund, Fox and her team offer support with even families’ most basic needs. One family facing financial difficulty because of the father’s diagnosis used a gift from the fund to buy groceries, including a birthday cake for their young daughter.

Fox and her team give victims of brain cancer and their families the strength to live "a new normal." But she accepts there are times when the best she can do is help someone let go.

When a 26 year-old father of three, dying from metastasized cancer and gasping his last breaths in the ICU, but unable to accept it, Dr. Fox leaned in close and whispered words of spiritual comfort, knowing well the man’s deep religious beliefs. With a strength that Dr. Fox calls divine intervention, the dying man somehow lifted himself to kiss her, then rallied long enough hold his children on his lap. He died the next day, but with newfound peace and a last moment of contentment his family will never forget.

Find out how you can begin your own Story of Giving by becoming a member of one of our foundations through the Donor Connect page. Once a member, you can log in and share your own story!

Nancy Plageman is gently smiling proof that giving makes good happen.

Her generosity has improved lives for people all across Virginia, and through the inspiring compassion of her individual spirit she motivates others to become involved, too.

Her generosity has improved lives for people all across Virginia, and through the inspiring compassion of her individual spirit she motivates others to become involved, too.

As both a volunteer in the flower shop at St. Mary’s and a board member for the Bon Secours Richmond Health Care Foundation, Nancy demonstrates the broad vision of her willingness to give--she is always ready to respond to where the need is. "It’s my privilege to be able to help," she says, deflecting any attempt to speak too much about her remarkable philanthropic efforts.

When Nancy learned about the need for a critical care transport vehicle at St. Mary’s Hospital, she wasted no time leading the way.

By inviting friends to a fundraiser at her home, Nancy raised substantial funds for a vehicle with a mission not unlike her own--to move purposefully in the community and help people in need.

Find out how you can begin your own Story of Giving by becoming a member of one of our foundations through the Donor Connect page. Once a member, you can log in and share your own story!