Courtney Quinn Fund to Benefit Child Life

Courtney Quinn 2014 file

An active member of her Crofton, Md. community, Courtney Quinn, above, took part in gymnastics, swimming, babysitting and church choir. At the age of 14, she was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma, a rare brain cancer. She bravely fought her disease for two years, receiving care at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, until the end of her life in 2012.

In her memory, family and friends established The Courtney Quinn Fund at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. The fund benefits the hospital’s Department of Child Life and its particular care of and services for adolescents, like Courtney.

At Johns Hopkins, Child Life specialists help young patients and their families manage the stressful and anxiety-provoking experience of hospitalization and develop effective coping skills. These highly-trained specialists work daily to enhance patients’ emotional and social well-being before, during and after their hospital experience.

One of Courtney’s favorite activities in the hospital was playing Hospital BINGO, organized and hosted by Child Life. Hospital BINGO combines entertainment, socialization, therapeutic play, education, and rewards, chiefly in the form of prizes, such as stuffed animals, games and toys. While many of these “prizes” are new items donated by the community, many of those appeal primarily to toddlers and school-age children, requiring the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center to purchase additional items for older patients and siblings. The Courtney Quinn Fund will help fill the gaps in prizes for teens and also help fund incentive programs and additional items for teens throughout The Johns Hopkins Hospital, including those units not specifically pediatric.

Please help make the hospital stays a bit more bearable for other teens like Courtney and donate to the fund in her honor. Your donations to The Courtney Quinn Fund are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Make your gift now

If you prefer to mail your donation, send a check made payable to "Johns Hopkins Children’s Center" and a note indicating your gift is for the "Courtney Quinn Fund" to: Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Office of Development,
750 E. Pratt Street, Suite 1700, Baltimore, MD 21202, Phone: 410-361-6493, Fax: 410-361-6465.

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UPDATE: Thanks to participants -- including the Crofton Country Club swim team -- in the 2014 Crofton Rock n’ Roll Relay Swim Meet, the Courtney Quinn Fund at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center received a generous donation that allows our Child Life team to provide BINGO prizes, Xbox games and movies for our adolescent patients. We thank all who helped us make hospital stays more bearable for our adolescents.

The Courtney Quinn Fund is sponsoring our Teen Advisory Council’s first Homecoming dance on October 10, 2015, for patients ages 16-18, who were hospitalized in 2014 or 2015, including those in the hospital at the time of the dance. For more details, contact the Office of Development, 410-361-6493.