Patrick Needs Our Help!

During the 7 weeks I spent at PCMC I became familiar with a lot of different children and their unique experiences. One such family is the Hoopes. Brian works with my father. When my brother died, this young couple stood in line for 2 hours holding Patrick in their arms to pay their respects. They are an amazing couple and deserve our attention as they place their faith in the will of the Lord and hope to save Patrick's life.



Produce for Patrick: Neighbors help raise funds for boy's transplant
By Katie Drake - 09/23/2009

[Photo: Ten-month-old Patrick Hoopes at Primary Children's Medical Center with his parents. (Trent Nelson / The Salt Lake Tribune)]

Taylorsville » It started with pear trees.

Tifanie Pulley had noticed lots of them in her Taylorsville neighborhood, all producing unused fruit.

Pulley decided to harvest the surplus to raise money for a worthy cause -- an intestinal transplant for Patrick Hoopes.

Patrick, who turns 1 on Halloween, was born with only a tiny portion of his small intestine and about one-third of his colon. He can't absorb nutrients from food and must be constantly fed through an IV. Ingesting food that way slowly destroys Hoopes' liver.

His medical problems didn't deter Brian and Emily Hoopes from adopting Patrick when he was 8 days old. They instantly fell in love with his vibrant dark eyes and flirtatious personality, and so did their neighborhood.

To help raise the estimated $500,000 needed to obtain Patrick's transplant, neighbors are working to raise funds any way they can, like Pulley and the pears.

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