The legacy of two brothers lives on
A retired Children's Health nurse transformed decades of caring for one family into an endowment that will advance heart transplant research for generations to come.
After Wendy lost two sons, Jake and Ty, to the same heart condition, her greatest fear was that they’d be forgotten.
For nearly 30 years, one person helped ensure that never happened.
Nancy Benefield, a longtime cardiac nurse at Children's Health℠ , cared for both boys during some of their family’s hardest moments and remained a steady presence in Wendy's life long after their hospital stays ended.
Decades later, Nancy established the Jake and Ty Ledbetter Endowment for Heart Transplant Research, ensuring their legacy will help children for generations to come.
“This endowment is an amazing way for people to benefit from the things the boys and I’ve gone through,” Wendy said. “The fact that their name is on something that’s going to help kids in perpetuity is just amazing. My heart is definitely full.”
Experiencing the unimaginable
Jake had only been born a couple of weeks before physicians from a hospital in Mesquite requested an ambulance to rush him and his parents to the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) at Children's Health.
His care team in Dallas quickly found he’d been born with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition that prevented his heart from pumping enough blood through his body.
Jake needed a heart transplant, his physicians said.
For the next three weeks, Nancy, then a pediatric ICU nurse at Children’s Health, cared for Jake like he was her own. She helped Wendy connect with her tiny baby, who was surrounded by beeping machines and IVs.
“I’ll never forget how she’d dress him up in tiny clothes,” Wendy said.
On Thanksgiving Day, Jake passed away while waiting for a new heart. Nancy stayed by his family’s side as they experienced the unimaginable.
Care team members are human. When families cry, you cry with them. You have the same emotions as if it’s your own child. I think that spoke volumes to them — that they had that support and family behind them at Children’s Health.
— Nancy, Children's Health nurse
Nancy kept in touch with Jake’s family over the next few months. As the holidays approached, she sent them a Christmas ornament with Jake’s name engraved on it.
“That made me feel like he wasn’t forgotten,” Wendy said. “That ornament came just at the right moment.”
Wendy’s wish
About two years later, Wendy faced the impossible again after she gave birth to her second son, Ty, who was diagnosed with the same heart condition as Jake.
Ty spent 45 days at the same CICU at Children’s Health, where Nancy — the same nurse who’d looked over his older brother — gently cared for him.
“You knew that they were being taken care of a little extra when Nancy was there,” Wendy said.
Despite his family’s worst fears, Ty’s heart responded well to medication that helped his heart pump blood better, allowing him to get back to being a kid.
A few years later, after physicians determined Ty needed a heart transplant, he received a new heart at Children’s Health at 7 years old, a month before his birthday.
Ty thrived with his new, stronger heart for several years, and Nancy kept up with the family online as he reached exciting milestones, like attending his high school prom and graduation and becoming a counselor at Camp John Marc — a summer camp for patients who have chronic illnesses or major physical disabilities.
“She would send me messages checking in with me to see how everything was going,” Wendy said. “And she never forgot to bring up Jake. She wasn’t scared to talk about him.”
Ty later died while waiting for a second heart transplant at 21 years old.
A wish lingered in Wendy’s mind as she and her family experienced the impossible: She hoped Jake and Ty would never be forgotten.
An incredible legacy
Nancy retired after more than 20 years at the health system, where she touched the livesof countless families she still thinks about today.
After decades of caring for children and families, Nancy began thinking about how she could continue supporting Children’s Health long into retirement.
And in the end, she made Wendy’s deepest wish come true when she established the Jake and Ty Ledbetter Endowment for Heart Transplant Research to improve patient outcomes and lower the chances of transplant rejections.
“These kids, and all the kids I have cared for, are never forgotten,” Nancy said. “This endowment ensures that Jake and Ty’s journeys will be remembered through advances in research while providing hope and healing for generations to come.”
Kids count on us. We count on you.
Give to support innovative research, lifesaving treatments and compassionate care.
Did you enjoy this story?
If you would like to receive an email when new stories like this one are posted to our website, please complete the form below. We won't share your information, and you can unsubscribe any time.
