PIPER CITY REHAB & LIVING CENTER in PIPER CITY, joined other Petersen Health Care facilities, unveiling Chloe’s Promise at its recent 2011 Annual Awards Banquet in Sullivan, Illinois. Chloe’s Promise was founded to help support the needs of the patients at the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate in Peoria, IL. The campaign, part of an annual appeal to each of the company’s facilities throughout the Midwest, finalized its effort at the company’s Awards Banquet last Thursday by creating a foundation “Chloe’s Promise” in honor of Owner, Mark Petersen’s daughter, Chloe. “Every year at our banquet we pay a tribute to St. Jude. Over the years our goal has been to raise money to donate to St. Jude through local fundraising events in each of our communities. This year our goal was higher than ever at $50,000 and I’m proud to say we greatly exceeded that goal” stated Susie Shaw, Regional Director and long time organizer of the company’s St. Jude mission.
“We have honored the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate in the name of Petersen Health Care for the last six years, with each year getting bigger. In the previous years we have raised money from community events held at various Petersen Health Care senior living communities. We have also collected and donated an incredible amount of toys including stuffed animals, bicycles, games and more. In previous years, Petersen Health Care facilities contributed and were able to raise enough money to purchase games, two DVD players and three laptop computers to entertain children of all ages and help older children complete homework while receiving treatments.”
Locally, PIPER CITY REHAB & LIVING CENTER was able to raise over $5200 to add to the company’s final total through the fundraising efforts of their Cash Bash & Softball Tournaments. “Everyone from Petersen Health Care, including myself, would like to thank all who attended or has contributed to either of this year’s St. Jude’s events. We hope to see each event continue to grow and, thus, enable us to make an even larger contribution to St. Jude in the years to come” added facility Administrator, Sharon Bargmann
Petersen Health Care’s contributions to St Jude began six years ago, prompted by the true story of the battle fought by Chloe Petersen, the daughter of Mark and Vicki Petersen, owners of Petersen Health Care. Chloe was diagnosed with Nephroblastomastosis, Cancer of the Kidneys, at age one. After diagnosis, her treatment began in less than one month, which was the beginning of a long battle fought by Chloe, now 14 years old. After receiving nine months of chemotherapy, the young Chloe had surgery followed by eight more months of tiring therapy. Unfortunately, the tumors grew back after being in remission for four months and she again had to receive months of chemo. She finished her long recovery just before starting kindergarten and has been in remission for eight years.
“This was a very challenging time for our family,” stated Mark Petersen. “The people at St. Jude were wonderful. For our people to come together and do something nice for St. Jude gives me a great sense of pride”. Vicki Petersen, Chloe’s mother, noted that they feel so lucky to have received the great care and compassion their daughter and their family received during their daughter’s fight. “We feel so humbled by this gesture as we know many families go through what we have and not everyone has a happy ending. We want to make sure the community knows how important St. Jude is and how special they are.”
For more information, please contact facility Administrator Sharon Bargmann at 815-686-2277
