The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center

The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital functions as a think tank, inspiring robust research collaborations across medical disciplines and institutions, while providing seed funding to the best and brightest physician-scientists—all with a goal of transforming trauma care for civilians and military heroes who suffer from devastating traumatic injuries. In co-operation with the MIT Media Lab, a grant was made to fund custom equipment for two US Military veterans that have undergone lower limb amputations. The equipment contains electrical activity sensors that will connect an advanced prosthesis to the individual’s nervous system.

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Home for Our Troops

Homes for Our Troops is a Massachusetts based charity that builds mortgage-free, specially adapted homes for severely injured veterans post 9/11. Most of these veterans have sustained injuries including multiple limb amputations, partial or full paralysis, and/or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Soldiers Fund made a grant toward the building of a home in Connecticut for SPC Sean Pesce, a former US Army Ranger that whilst serving in Afghanistan was shot 13 times, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

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Make-A-Wish

Make-A-Wish grant wishes to make life better for children with very serious medical conditions; in this case, Jesse, a 5-year-old boy undergoing treatment for neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, whose father is an active duty US Marine. Jesse and his family, who live in Chatham, MA, went to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas where he had a once in a lifetime experience, which made "him feel free from his daily struggles at home."

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