Providence Foundations Stories

Bill Schonely had a special passion for the children and the care they received at Providence Child Center and the Center for Medically Fragile Children. 

Denise Molendyk has fought cancer on every front. She cared for her first husband until he passed away from complications of glioblastoma—a rare and fast-growing brain tumor.

The Green Team at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center has facilitated several operational improvements to reduce waste and become carbon negative by 2030.

Busy Bees member Marlys Carter knows the pain of losing a loved one. She joined the group in 2005 after her husband passed away. Busy Bees allowed Marlys to connect with others, share her grief and learn the creative outlet of quilting.

Providence Oregon now has a team of dedicated, specialized forensic nurse examiners that works with patients who seek help during one of the most vulnerable times of their lives.

Thanks to Providence Foundations of Oregon and other Providence partners, college students from underserved communities are being mentored and supported as they apply to medical school. 

When Thomas Joseph became a member of the Providence Milwaukie Foundation Board in 1995, he planned to stay no more than 10 years. Now 27 years later, he still is on the board and has made plans to support the hospital long into the future.  

Kyle, husband and father of two young boys, discovered he had thymoma, which is cancer of the thymus. An aggressive tumor in his chest was nearly the size of a grapefruit.

Nearly 20,000 runners and walkers in the 40th year of Providence Hood to Coast Relay raised more than $650,000 to support cancer research at Providence Cancer Institute. Community support of this event helps Providence scientists discover new innovations in treating cancer.

A patient's care team must walk a tightrope to effectively treat the brain tumor without causing irreparable damage to the surrounding tissue. Cancer patients are typically offered a treatment plan that includes a combination of chemotherapy, radiation, surgery and novel clinical trial options that include immunotherapy—harnessing the body’s own immune system to attack the tumor.

Providence Newberg Health Foundation recently received a $92,000 grant from the Austin Family Foundation to support the hospital’s Out of the Cold program for vulnerable and medically fragile patients served by Providence.

In 2005 David Heller, a star on his high school basketball team, went to bed and never woke up. The 17-year-old was struck down in his sleep by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition caused by abnormal genes affecting the heart muscle. Last month a foundation created by his parents announced a gift to the heart institute that will help others with HCM through genetic counseling and research.

When a Hillsboro man learned he had a noncancerous tumor in his jaw, he turned to Providence Cancer Institute for help. Doctors performed the innovative “Jaw in a Day” surgery that uses the leg bone to shape a new jaw.

Kristina Young, M.D., Ph. D., Mark Whiteford, M.D., and their colleagues recently shared the exciting results of a clinical trial at Providence Cancer Institute for patients with locally advanced colorectal cancer. Specializing in radiation oncology, Dr. Young is assistant member at Earle A. Chiles Research Institute as well as a member of The Oregon Clinic.

Thanks to generous donor support, Providence Multiple Sclerosis Center is now equipped with Icometrix—a tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify microscopic disease progression in patients with MS.