A History of Caring: One Boy’s Life Remembered
He would be 61 years old, if he had lived.
Stevie Brauning entered the world on July 10, 1955. All seemed well until three days later when the attending pediatrician noticed a heart murmur. Stevie’s parents, Gail and Jack, brought their first-born to Cincinnati Children’s for testing when he was three months old.
Sam Kaplan, MD, director of Cardiology, diagnosed him with tetralogy of Fallot, a rare condition that causes poorly oxygenated blood to flow from the heart to the rest of the body.
“Dr. Kaplan told us to take Stevie home and treat him like a normal kid,” said Gail. “I don’t think I would have known to do that if he hadn’t explicitly told me. It wasn’t easy. When Stevie played outside, I was always watching from behind the curtains. Often, he would bend over because it was easier for him to breathe.”
Stevie underwent three surgeries in his short life – at 11 months, age 6 and 11. James Helmsworth, MD, was his surgeon.
“After Stevie’s first surgery, Dr. Helmsworth came to see him on the unit,” she recalls. “He asked me if I’d had the chance to get outside the hospital. When I said, ‘no, he said, ‘Put your coat on and go take a walk. I’ll sit here with Stevie.’ When I returned, he was sitting there with Stevie on his lap. I took a picture of them. At Dr. Helmsworth’s funeral last year, I brought the photo along and showed it to his son.”
Giving Back
Stevie was able to play ball for one season when he was 6 and to attend school until the last year of his life. After that, he was tutored. He died November 25, 1965, on Thanksgiving Day. The Brauning family, which includes Stevie’s five siblings, has since made a tradition of going to church every Thanksgiving to remember him and give thanks for his life.
Another family tradition, that was kept up through the mid-’70s, was a neighborhood carnival – initially held when Stevie was alive to help defray medical expenses, and after his death, to honor his memory and raise funds for the medical center.
“We prepared all year for the carnival,” said Debbie Nash, Stevie’s sister. “Kids would decorate their bikes. We played games and held a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses. One year we even had a bagpipe player. It was a big deal for us.”
Kaplan wrote a letter of thanks to the Braunings in 1976 for their fundraising efforts, and a commemorative plaque was installed in the Cardiology Department. Unfortunately, through many moves and renovations, the plaque was lost.
A Little Sleuthing
Last fall, Stevie’s brother John was noting the 50th anniversary of his death and wondered what became of the plaque. He asked his niece, Kelly, a Cincinnati Children’s ED nurse, if she could help locate it. Unsure of where to begin, Kelly enlisted the help of a colleague, Ra’Shawn Brown, an operations coordinator in General and Community Pediatrics, who took on the challenge as his own personal mission. He followed the quest all the way to president and CEO Michael Fisher. While Fisher had no knowledge of the plaque, he wrote a gracious letter to the family acknowledging the impression Stevie made on the Cincinnati Children’s staff and assuring them that he is still remembered.
Gail and Jack Brauning (seated, center) were joined by family, along with Tom Kimball, MD, medical director, Heart Institute (kneeling, left) and Ra’Shawn Brown, operations coordinator, General and Community Pediatrics (first row, far right), in the Heart Institute waiting area for a plaque presentation in memory of their son, Stevie.
The original plaque was never found, but the Heart Institute commissioned a new one. Drs. Andrew Redington, executive director, and Tom Kimball, medical director, presented it to the Brauning family on June 2.
Gail dabbed at her tears with a tissue as she and Jack spoke of Stevie and their gratitude to Cincinnati Children’s. She said, “The care we received here was warm, loving and caring. Dr. Kaplan fathered me, even checking in to make sure our children had shoes for church and play. Everybody went above and beyond to help us, and we are forever grateful.”
