Come enjoy a special night to support The Uncompensated Care Fund at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Uncompensated Care allows for state-of-the-art health services for all children in our region, regardless of a family's ability to pay, ensuring all children receive the care that they need.

Date: November 2, 2024

Time: Doors open at 6:00 pm

Location: Bellevue Club, 11200 SE 6th Street, Bellevue 98004

Cost: $150 per person

Registration is now closed. If you need to update your registration, please refer to the link and code on your emailed registration receipt.

If you are unable to attend in person, please consider making a donation by clicking here!

Thanks so much to our 2023 Sponsors!

Platinum

Gold

SILVER

2023 Patient Spotlight

Katherine was diagnosed with a hole in her heart the day after she was born. Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are the most common type of birth defect affecting 1 in 100 people. While many kids and adults have holes in their heart, the majority spontaneously close without surgical intervention, this wasn’t the case for Katherine.

At 18 months Katherine had open heart surgery to close the holes in her heart. The surgery went perfectly and now Katherine continues to thrive.

Seattle Children’s has been there for her and her family from her very first visit, through heart surgery, and today.

Please join us in supporting Seattle Children’s Hospital and their mission to provide world class healthcare for all children, regardless of their family’s ability to pay for care.

Donate Now

Please remember your corporate match!

Past Patient Families

Our 2022 patient spotlight is on the remarkable Gigi! A four and a half year old who has overcome so much in her short life! Donations like yours have helped Gigi and other children throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska get the best possible care.

Gigi’s story as told by her mom, Jessica...

Gigi was born a few days before her due date with no complications. Although she was little at 5.9lbs, as far as we knew she was a very happy and healthy baby. The day she was born I did notice a slight wheezing and mentioned it to every doctor that came to check on her in the hospital as well as at her follow up appointments once we were home. Every doctor said the same thing, they felt she sounded fine, and it was just me being a “new Mom". I continued to make sure she was eating well and hitting her small milestones. When Gigi was 3 weeks old I sent a video of her to my cousin who is an ER nurse. She asked about Gigi’s breathing and I told her that the doctors had said she would grow out of it. She told me if I ever see her rib or throat breathing, I should call her doctor or 911. One day later I noticed during a diaper change that I could see her ribs and it seemed she was having a harder time breathing than usual. We took her to the doctor, and they sent us straight to Seattle Children’s Hospital.

After 8 hours in the Emergency Department trying to figure out why her oxygen levels were so low, they put her under to look in her throat. They found that her airway was so small in one area they could not put a breathing tube in her if they wanted to. They were of course then shocked that she had made it 3 weeks and was eating. They said if she had even gotten the smallest cold or even gotten too upset it could have closed her airway and she would've just passed away. They then diagnosed her with severe Subionic Stenosis (Narrowing of the Airway). After a week in the NICU she had a tracheotomy. After her Tracheostomy she was back in the NICU, sedated where I couldn't hold her for a week. We were then admitted to the medical floor where I lived with Gigi to learn to care for her for 2 1/2 months. We were told that she would have to have reconstructive surgery anywhere from 2-3yrs old and that we would have 16 hours a day of nursing to help with the care of Gigi.

My fiancé and I had 2 kids (7 and 9) and a new puppy to take care of at home. Although my fiancé came to see me almost every day, I leaned on the staff and the doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital to keep me optimistic and sane. I knew their job was to take care of Gigi and to train me to care for her and I couldn't have thanked each of them enough for their immense compassion and genuine level of humanity. A simple, small conversation goes a long way when you are feeling confined, alone and scared.

It wasn't just the doctors and nurses that showed this level of compassion and care. The next biggest worry besides “is your child going to be okay” is "how much is this going to cost, and how will I pay for it"?

Gigi had her first trach surgery at just three weeks old. Following that surgery, she was put under many times to check to see if her airway was growing, which it never did. At 19 months Gigi had reconstructive surgery to remove the trach and expand her airway, allowing her to breathe on her own.

Today, Gigi is four and half years old! She is doing great and enjoys singing, dancing, playdates with friends, and being silly! Please consider a donation today to help support families just like Gigi’s!

Kira Laconetti

From her doctor…

Kira is such an amazing girl who had a very unfortunate problem. She had a tumor in her brain that was caused by a very unusual kind of epilepsy. Kira’s epilepsy was triggered by music. Singing and performing happen to be Kira’s greatest passions.

My job is to take care of children with all kinds of neurological conditions. My mission is to deliver the absolute best care to each and every child, and to do it with compassion and diligence. Making sure Kira was able to sing and enjoy her life was my goal. We tested her ability to sing and listen to music while she was awake in the operating room, not feeling pain, not feeling discomfort. This gave us the ability to see which areas of her brain were important for her singing so we could preserve them.

It was paramount for me and my colleagues to preserve the things Kira cares about most. Our focus was not only on removing the tumor, but also on making her life better.

— Dr. Jason Hauptman, neurosurgeon and neurosciences specialist in epilepsy

Meet Kira…

A performer and musical actress since age 6, this teen suddenly struggled with tone and pitch. After an MRI revealed a tumor in her brain, she and her doctors found a way for her to keep pursuing her passion.

I said Yes So I Could Live My Most Passionate Life

By Kira Iaconetti, Lynden, Washington

I’ve been performing in musicals since I was 6 years old. I remember my very first show was a parody of “Beauty and the Beast.” I loved it.

About four years ago, I was in my kitchen singing a song from the movie “Frozen.” All of sudden, it was like a switch flipped off in my brain — I went completely tone deaf, couldn’t sing and couldn’t process the words in time with the music. That continued to happen occasionally, but it never affected my performances, so I didn’t worry about it too much.

Then it got worse. My left foot went numb — and eventually, so did the left side of my face. Sometimes I felt like I could hear a ringing in my left ear. I knew it was time to talk to my mom about seeing a doctor because I didn’t want this to happen on stage during a show.

An MRI showed a marble-sized tumor embedded in my temporal lobe — the very spot that controls my singing. I remember thinking it seemed sort of a cruel, sick joke it was in the part of my brain that affects the thing I’m most passionate about.

The whole neurosciences team at Seattle Children’s knew how important singing is to me, so they came up with a plan to wake me up and have me sing during my brain surgery! This way, they could test whether the tumor could be removed without affecting my ability to sing.

The whole team saved my life — and they saved the performing life I’ve loved since I was 6 years old. I thank Seattle Children’s for everything.

From Kira’s Dad…

“Our experience at Seattle Children’s has been completely positive. I don’t think we could be in a better place.”

— Bob Lconetti, Kira’s dad

Mason

Mason was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor on June 20, 2012. Mason’s brain tumor is inoperable because it’s part of his optical nerve, it surrounds his basillar artery and rests on top of his pituitary gland. Mason’s tumor is grade 1, juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, a low grade cancer. Mason’s October 10th 2012 MRI revealed his tumor was growing. Chemotherapy to treat started on November 14th 2012. The January 2013 MRI revealed the tumor is the same size as in October. Chemotherapy and alternative medicines were continued. The April 2013 MRI indicated no growth as well, good news. In May 2013 Mason experienced vision problems and another brain surgery was done on May 23, 2013 to withdraw fluid from the accompanying cyst that is attached to his tumor on his optical nerve path. His shunt valve was repaired during surgery as well. The next day Mason’s vision improved and he recovered miraculously. Chemotherapy stopped on April 29, 2013 due to surgery and no tumor growth. His next MRI was scheduled on July 2013 and then off to his Make-a-Wish to swim with Seat Turtles on August 3, 2013. Mason’s tumor started to grow again and in November 2014 Mason started an investigational study medication program to treat his tumor. In February 2015, Mason started human growth hormone treatment due to pituitary gland dysfunction and we really hope he starts growing!

Donate Now

Please don’t forget your corporate match!

Mission

To serve as advocates for Seattle Children's through our volunteer and philanthropic endeavors to ensure excellent health care for all children in our region.

About Our Guild

"The Miracle House," a name coined for Seattle Children's by faithful supporter and storyteller Phil Smart, Sr., was a name given to our guild as recognition of our unique history.

Traditionally, a guild’s core membership is a group of friends, co-workers or neighbors. Our guild was created by the Guild Association in response to a diverse group of people who expressed an interest in guild membership, but who did not have a specific link to an existing guild. Thus The Miracle House Guild was formed in 2000 which brought together a group of strangers from all over greater King and Pierce counties.

Now in our twenty third year, we are a strong group of friends and one of the top 25 revenue-producing guilds. Our numbers have grown as friends of friends and members of our patient spotlight families have joined the guild. We all share an on-going commitment to supporting Seattle Children's and we are proud of the tradition we have created with our annual auction.