Meet Nancy Long, who continues her family’s legacy while forging her own

Now as North Texas and Children’s Health grow, she’s helping fund the hospital’s future, leaving a legacy gift to make life better for children today, tomorrow and forever.

One of Nancy Long’s earliest memories of Children’s Health was two little red hammers that she and her brother received at the groundbreaking for Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

Both sick with the mumps, she and her brother waited out the event from the car, while her mom and dad, James J. Farnsworth, then-president of the Dallas hospital, attended the groundbreaking for the campus that overlooks Stemmons Freeway. When the celebration was over, her parents returned with the two little red hammers, which Nancy’s brother still has today.

The tools were tokens symbolizing the construction of a place where families would one day find hope.

In 1967, that hospital opened its doors and for decades has cared for countless children, offering healing and a chance to get back to being a kid again.

---

What I value most about Children’s Health is their care, compassion and constant drive to find new ways to help children.

— Nancy

---

While Nancy has a storied past with Children’s Health, she’s also tied to its future, joining the next chapter as the institution embarks on a plan to build the new Dallas pediatric campus. A joint investment with UT Southwestern Medical Center, the campus will be one of the country’s largest and most transformative pediatric hospitals.

As part of her legacy, Nancy included Children’s Health in her will “to help save more lives,” she said.

Nancy understands the critical work team members at Children’s Health perform each day. She used to be on the frontline beside them.

During high school, Nancy became a junior volunteer at the hospital – helping staff with whatever was needed. She gave hospital tours, pushed a gift cart around, rocked babies and sometimes dropped in her dad’s office to shoot the breeze.

After nursing school, she returned to the Dallas campus her father helped open to work as a pediatric cardiology nurse.

In the cardiac unit, Nancy mostly cared for the tiniest patients – newborns who’d just come out of their first surgery from all kinds of heart-related problems.

The memories of her heart-transplant patients tend to be the most vivid, as many did not survive.

“It’s different now, though. That’s the great thing about the new Dallas pediatric hospital,” Nancy said. “New labs, equipment and surgery centers – I’m overjoyed with all they’re planning to do on the new campus.”

Continuing her father’s legacy

According to Nancy, her dad was always looking to the future. “He wanted to go further, do more and serve more people,” she said.

And one of the many ways her dad has served others is through supporting medical education.

The money he received from serving in the U.S. Army during World War II afforded him an education – and to pay it forward, he wanted to support people interested in pediatrics.

Decades ago, James and his wife, Betty, established the James Farnsworth Endowment, which helps fund the James J. Farnsworth Health Career Scholarship Program at Children’s Health to financially support students planning careers in pediatric health care.

In addition to supporting Children’s Health through her will, Nancy has also made a gift to her parents’ endowment, a gift that will live in perpetuity.

“He was really into furthering the field and bringing in new nurses and doctors. He would be overjoyed with the plans for the new hospital,” Nancy said, beaming.

The new Dallas pediatric campus will accommodate emerging technology; allow for deeper collaboration; enhance patient care amenities; and create a better working environment to recruit and retain the nation’s best researchers, physicians, nurses and staff.

Making the biggest impact

Nancy’s gifts, both through her will and to her parents’ endowment, make her a member of the Bradford Legacy Society, a group of loyal and passionate donors who have chosen to make life better for children for generations to come.

The Society honors donors who commit to leaving a legacy by establishing an endowment or including Children’s Medical Center Foundation in their estate plans. Nancy, one of several donors who gives through both, is making an even bigger impact for the next generation of kids.

“Without Children’s Health and UT Southwestern working together, the new technologies and advancements we have today would’ve never been discovered and put into practice --many lives in our community have been saved,” Nancy said.

Start your legacy today

Did you know you can make a bigger impact than you ever imagined? By making a planned gift — like the one Nancy set aside in her will or her donations to the endowment — you can help provide a sustainably funded future for the causes you care about while protecting your loved ones and leaving a personal legacy you can be proud of.

Questions? Our Legacy & Gift Planning team is here to help. Please email us at GiftPlanning@childrens.com.