Sarah Seethaler almost made it to age 30. However, with a birth weight of just 3lbs. 7oz. no one could tell us in September 1990 if she would survive 3 days or 3 weeks ... but most were doubtful it would be 3 months. Well, she made it home for Christmas that year with tubes and equipment - what a GIFT for her parents and five brothers and sisters!

In time, this blessing to our family became a blessing to others ... a handful, then tens, hundreds ... even a thousand and more with whom she had a positive influence - so many of you have told us so. How do we give back; perhaps by helping others with a rocky path during infancy or childhood. This is one way.

With Sarah passing on June 18th - just 84 days short of her 30th birthday, our desire as her parents is to direct the good will and generosity of our friends - her friends - to contribute to Primary Children's Hospital, where it all began for a helpless child born with perplexing complications.  

Hospital facts: Many of the vital programs and services offered at Primary Children’s are funded solely through donations by individuals and organizations. Primary Children’s Hospital is the only Trauma 1 free-standing children’s hospital in the Intermountain West. It serves the largest geographical area of any children’s hospital in the entire country. Your donation reaches kids across five states – Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Montana. 

Deductibility: Contributions are tax-deductible if the taxpayer qualifies.

Use of donations: All contributions are used to help children at Primary Children's Hospital. The Foundation supports many services at the hospital, including:

• Charity care
• Pediatric medical research
• Projects to improve hospital facilities
• Music and art therapy and bereavement counseling
• Medical equipment

SarahSmiles: We chose this theme because so many of you have mentioned in your Facebook comments that you have been blessed by Sarah's smile over the years. Having spent days and nights and weeks and months at PCMC over the years - our experience has been so positive, and literally life-saving. We vowed that if/when we were in a position to sponsor a fundraiser to pay for future care we would do so, and feel that SarahSmiles with our efforts. Thank you for considering a donation of $10, $100 ... or more. It all adds up.  We paid the first $500 and will gladly pay the last $500 to meet our ambitious goal of $25,000.  Don't know if we can reach this, but with Sarah as our cause, we are inspired to try.

With love, Mark & Kristen