Family Shows Gratitude by Chairing Race for Every Child

Melanie and Brigg Bunker remember the overwhelming sense of worry they felt when their 5-year-old daughter Grace was flown by medivac to Children’s National to fix a collapsed lung. Told they couldn’t ride in the helicopter with their daughter, Melanie and Brigg were visibly shaken about leaving Grace during such a traumatic time.

“As I watched the helicopter prepare to leave, a medivac team member ran back, put an arm around me and said, ‘We’ve got her and she’s in good hands. What’s your cell phone number? I will text you as soon as we pass her off to the docs,’” recalled Melanie.

Within 20 minutes, Melanie received a text saying Grace was safely with the doctors at Children’s National. She cites this as the first of many instances epitomizing the world-class care their family would receive during their family’s 16-day stay. “The text message was obviously not part of their normal job description,” Melanie said. “I expect the child to receive world-class care, but the service to our family, who was obviously also struggling, was also world-class. We grew close to many of the nurses who cared for Grace. We didn’t know we needed Children’s, but in that moment, they were there for us.”

To show their gratitude and help other families, Melanie and Brigg are serving as co-chairs for this year’s Race for Every Child, supporting the nurses, doctors, and staff who went above and beyond for them.

The Race for Every Child this Saturday will raise much needed funds to ensure that every child, from every background and every walk of life, can receive exceptional care, regardless of insurance or ability to pay.    

“Having Children’s National in our back yard gives me a wonderful sense of comfort—knowing that any child in our community who needs assistance or specialty medicine has access to it,” Melanie said. “We don’t have to think about how were going to pay for it, because of the type of hospital that Children’s National is.”

Visit RaceForEveryChild.org to make a gift today to help kids like Grace.