The Thompson Family and Hereditary Hypospadias

Video Transcript

A letter from parent Alicia Thompson. Alicia's three sons had hereditary hypospadias and needed expertise in the Division of Urology:

Dear Dr. DeFoor and the staff of Cincinnati Children’s,

I am writing to commend all of you for the outstanding care our family has received at Cincinnati Children’s.

When our first son was born in 2010, he had hereditary hypospadias. I was on active duty at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and, as were are both physicians, my husband and I took advantage of our physician network. A urologist I worked with said, “If I had to take my kid somewhere, I’d take him to see William DeFoor, MD at Cincinnati Children’s.” So we did.

Now, eight years later, we’ve had four children, including three sons who needed your expertise. We’ve had four surgeries there with Dr. DeFoor. In that time, and with each encounter, we have had nothing short of truly excellent care.

I remember a surgeon telling me that if you want to be successful as a surgeon, you must be able, available, and affable. It is self-evident that Dr. DeFoor is all of these. He is a skilled surgeon. His bedside manner with children is wonderful. He is kind and patient. He explains things in a way that is easy to understand. He is on time and efficient. But he has that seemingly magical mixture that makes the difference between a good doctor and a phenomenal one. He remembers us. He asks about my husband and asks about our home life. He engages with our other kids. When he takes a moment to look us in the eye, he validates each of us – we’re a family and our family matters to him, not just the one kid scheduled that day. Dr. DeFoor is an exceptional physician. He is a doctor’s doctor, and I’m deeply grateful for the care he has given us.

Yet, as we all know, a doctor is only as good as the support staff. Dr. DeFoor is bolstered on all sides by excellence. Our surgery scheduler, Tricia Hill, the front desk staff, the nurses, the pharmacy staff, the anesthesiologists, the residents and fellows, the juggler and musician that entertained us in the waiting room, literally every person with whom we interacted, was instrumental in shaping our numerous positive experiences. We thank every person at your hospital as each reflected that every job is an important job and every patient and family member are valuable.

And finally, with deep gratitude, we thank you for making our surgery days as peaceful as possible. The surgeries themselves went off without a hitch. The entire process seemed to run like a well-oiled machine and every detail seemed to be considered and monitored. After moving away from Dayton to Chillicothe, we were closer to Nationwide Children’s Hospital by about an hour. We knew that our sons’ abnormalities were straightforward and routine for most pediatric urologists, but we chose to drive farther because of our past experiences. We are glad we did and we would do so again.

So thanks to you – all of you and each of you. Thanks for doing more than a job. Thanks for engaging in the art of medicine. You’ve created a masterpiece.

Sincerely,

Alicia Thompson

Updated: June 2018