Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/29/2022 --The Utah Fetal Center at Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital has received a generous gift of $15 million from a Utah family in memory of their infant son. This donation will allow the hospital to strengthen fetal care and surgeries for expectant mothers and their families for many years to come.
Brad and Megan Bonham's $15 million endowed gift helps establish the first highly specialized fetal care center in Utah and the Intermountain West – a vital community resource that will enable Intermountain Healthcare and Primary Children's, with partners from University of Utah Health, to become a national leader in comprehensive fetal care, including complex fetal surgeries.
With the donation, Intermountain Primary Children's has renamed the Utah Fetal Center the Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center in honor of the couple's infant son, who passed away one day after birth due to complexities that could not be addressed in-utero at that time.
"What the Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center represents to us is hope – a hope that other families might look forward to a happy, healthy life with their children who are facing challenging medical circumstances," Brad Bonham said.
"We've gone through some really difficult trials in our lives and there was always somebody there with an outstretched hand that has helped lift us up," he added. "We find it almost incumbent that we provide those same lifting hands when the opportunity arises."
The Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center is part of Intermountain Healthcare's "Primary Promise" to create the nation's model health system for children – a multi-faceted initiative and investment of at least $500 million in children's health that will be shared by Intermountain Healthcare and community philanthropic support through an emerging campaign organized by Intermountain Foundation.
This campaign is being led by four civic and community business leaders:
- Gail Miller, owner and board chair of Larry H. Miller Group of Companies and chair of the Intermountain Healthcare Board of Trustees
- Crystal Maggelet, chair and CEO of FJ Management Inc. and Intermountain Healthcare trustee
- Steve Lund, co-founder and executive board chair of Nu Skin Enterprises
- Spencer Zwick, co-founder and managing partner of Solamere Capital and former senior advisor to U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney.
In January 2010, at their 20-week ultrasound exam, the Bonhams received devastating news: their unborn son had posterior urethral valves, a kidney condition for which, at the time, there was no treatment. Their son wouldn't live long after his birth.
The following May, Grant Scott Bonham was born at full term, weighing 6 pounds, 15 ounces. He lived 33 hours, all the while held by his parents, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends before passing away in his mother's arms.
"This gift to the fetal center at Primary Children's Hospital is very personal to us," Megan Bonham said. "As challenging as this time was for us, we now feel motivated to help others who have to experience something similar."
The Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center is the most highly specialized fetal care center in Utah and the Intermountain West. Leaders recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the center's first fetal surgery with the patient mother and her smiling 11-month-old daughter.
"I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Brad and Megan Bonham for their incredible generosity to help expectant mothers and their unborn babies," said Katy Welkie, RN, MBA, chief executive officer of Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital and vice president of Intermountain Healthcare Children's Health. "The Bonham family's leadership and support will rewrite the stories of untold numbers of children in the years to come."
"Often, the joy a parent feels in pregnancy can turn into despair when they realize their child is affected by congenital anomalies," said Stephen Fenton, MD, a pediatric surgeon with University of Utah Health and Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital, who is director of the center.
"We hope the fetal center will become command central for these parents – a place where they can access integrated, high-quality care, innovative therapies, and a full team of experts, researchers, and fetal surgeons to help expectant mothers with high-risk pregnancies overcome these challenges," he added.
About Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital
Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care children's teaching hospital located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The hospital has 289 pediatric beds and is affiliated with the University of Utah School of Medicine. Primary Children's is part of Intermountain Healthcare, a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 3,800 employed physicians and advanced practice providers, a health plans division with more than one million members called SelectHealth, and other health services. Based in Utah with locations in seven states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information, see Intermountain Healthcare.