'I know the heart of Children's Health'

After Micaela’s Army dissolves, nonprofit unanimously votes to establish two endowments to Children’s Health^SM

Recently, Sharon White uncovered a list of 25 life goals her teenage daughter wrote more than a decade ago.

No. 1: Move to New York

No. 2: Travel to Africa and help orphaned children.

No. 3: Pass my French class.

The list goes on ...

No. 23: Get a tattoo.

No. 24: Go to Heaven.

No. 25: Be happy.

“She was smart. She was funny. She was just enough sweetness and sass. This is what cancer took from the world,” Sharon said of her daughter, Micaela, who passed away in 2011 from leukemia when she was 18 years old.

For nine months, team members in the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Health cared for Micaela -- a dancer with national awards who wanted to be a journalist when she grew up.

And for most of that time, the teenager and her mother lived at the hospital, as Micaela underwent numerous rounds of chemotherapy treatments and a bone marrow transplant.

They ate meals from their hospital room. Child Life specialists hung a sign in the afternoons outside Micaela’s patient room that read “Privacy: Stay out” so the teenager could have some alone time.

Friends visited daily. Nurses giggled when a boy Micaela had a crush on stopped by and her heart rate monitor skyrocketed.

And Sharon and Micaela had long conversations, as Sharon folded their laundry washed at the hospital.

“We laughed. We cried. I learned things about her that most parents wouldn't know about their children,” Sharon said. “How many parents get to spend eight months in the same room with their child?”

And they also talked about what they’d do one day when they left the hospital.

“We discussed chemo and treatment and how in the world we can make a difference. We didn't know what to do, but we knew it was important to us to make a change for the better for the kids and the families like us that were diagnosed with cancer,” Sharon said.

But she also felt depleted as she drove home alone from the hospital in August 2011, after Micaela had a seizure and passed away in the Intensive Care Unit while Sharon held her close.

“I took Micaela’s strength and vision and opened a foundation to support pediatric cancer research,” said Sharon, who organized a grassroots campaign, selling homemade aprons, bath salts and bread, to initially fund the nonprofit named Micaela’s Army. “And over the many years, I hope I made a small difference. It was harder than I thought it would be, but I’m so proud of what we did.”

Last year, Sharon and the foundation’s board members dissolved the nonprofit and used the remaining funds to establish two endowments at Children’s Health to support cancer research and child life services -- which provide coping strategies and help make life easier for those experiencing the unthinkable. Programs like child life are one of the resources that makes the holistic care we provide patients and families at Children’s Health unique.

“The child life specialists made Micaela feel safe and loved,” Sharon said. “It was important to me to give back to the department, the nurses and all the team members who rallied around her.”

In 2021, more than 200 active pediatric cancer clinical research trials were sustained and grown because of donors like Sharon, helping improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of childhood diseases. Philanthropic investments in research remain critical to continue offering the best treatment options for these cancer patients.

During its operation, Micaela’s Army supported Children’s Health with several gifts to the Gill Center, but Sharon said the board unanimously voted to establish the endowments with the last of its funds to serve as a legacy for Micaela that will grow over the years to help patients like her.

“I know the heart of Children’s Health. When you spend eight months there caring for your child, I don’t know how you walk out of there, knowing what you know, and not want to make a difference,” Sharon said. “These kids need a fighting chance, and research is the solution.”