Save the Prouty Garden

A pearl in the oyster that is Boston Children's Hospital

"In many ways Prouty Garden saved us."

The Children’s Hospital in Boston will always be a special place for my family and me. The facility itself, the wonderful caring nurses and staff, dedicated doctors and residents are simply amazing. My daughter was treated there from the time she was six months old until she aged out at 22.

We were such regular visitors to the orthopedic clinic the nurses and doctors knew us all by name and the rotation of residents by reputation. Among the many procedures my daughter endured was a nine-hour surgery that enabled her to run, not fast, but steady. She spent weeks in the hospital.

Then when she became chronically ill as a teenager we spent the entire month of November at the hospital - even Thanksgiving Day - her favorite holiday. And like most parents of children who have to endure a hospital stay I was right there with her day and night.

Needless to say I became pretty well acclimated to the Longwood medical campus and all it has to offer from fast food to shops and galleries. Within the hospital I found the family lounge on every floor, the kitchen for a midnight snack, and the door to the stairwell for my daily cardio exercise running up and down nine or ten floors instead of taking the elevator.

But by far the greatest discovery I made was the day I found the Prouty Garden wandering in search of a family library. The halls that interconnect old and new sections of the hospital are well lit but still cavernous so when I saw sunlight splashing into the hall ahead of me I was intrigued.  The light led to a small but significant park encased in the concrete walls of the medical mecca. In the center a huge tree reached for the open sky as its web of roots clung to the earth. There were benches and a fountain, flowers and grass so inviting I removed my shoes and walked barefoot as if I were back at home in my own yard. There was sun on my face for the first time in days and I recovered a sense of calm lost amid the flashing lights, tweets and buzzing, and piercing alarms of a medical floor. It was indeed an oasis.

Established in 1956 by Olive Higgins Prouty in memory of two children she lost, the Prouty garden has been since dedicated as a memorial to all the children who have unfortunately died at the hospital. But it is so much more than that. It is a place as well for the living.

Trust me there is nothing more challenging in life than seeing your child suffer. It takes so much out of you both physically and emotionally. Finding that garden was like finding a little piece of heaven in my daily hell. I could hardly wait for my daughter to be well enough to leave her room so I could bring her there. While I can’t say enough about the great work of the medical staff, in many ways the Prouty Garden saved us, gave us medicine you can’t get from an IV bag or dispensed in pill form. To smell the flowers and fresh cut grass, to see birds and squirrels, feel the breeze and the warmth of the sun gave us a little peace in our daily battle. I remember thinking what an amazing gift it was.

So when I learned the administration has plans to bulldoze it to build an addition to hospital I could hardly believe it was true. Could they actually be so short sighted?! Historically, environmentally, and spiritually Prouty Garden is profoundly significant and should be preserved at all costs. It is the pearl in the oyster that is the Children’s Hospital in Boston.

So for what it’s worth I add my voice to the countless patients and parents, doctors and nurses, and families who lost children at that hospital, please don’t kill the one thing that gave me hope even in the darkest of times. Please keep the Prouty Garden.

*To learn more please go to SaveProuty.org and make a donation and please sign the online petition.