who we are

In addition to the volunteers listed below, we are an extended group of concerned volunteers who are connected to the Boston Children's Hospital family in one way or another.

We are patients who have spent time in Prouty Garden and families who had children who were treated at Children’s. We are environmentalists and historians who care about the story of Prouty Garden, and we are former members of the Children’s medical staff who have seen how important Prouty Garden is to our patients.

ANNE GAMBLE

Anne and Walter Gamble have been affiliated with Boston Children's Hospital since 1961 when Walter became a fellow in the Cardiology Department.  He became a member of the staff and was responsible for the care of cardiac patients including those needing pacemakers.  He retired in 1996 after 35 years of service.  Anne volunteered in the Greenhouse program, and later in Patient Relations and the Chaplains Office.  During this time she became aware of the importance of the Prouty Garden for patients, families and the medical staff of the hospital.  She "retired" in 2011, and in 2012 she took on the petition on Change.org, urging the hospital to preserve the Prouty Garden and find another site for the much-needed new clinical building.

GUS MURBY

Gus is a father whose son was treated for cancer at Boston Children’s Hospital over a number of years. At the urging of the Children’s Hospital staff, Gus’s son and his family were pleasantly surprised to “discover” Prouty Garden at Children’s Hospital. After their first visit, they returned frequently because it was one of the few places in the hospital that a patient in the transplant unit could go to get away for a change of scenery. Over the course of long stays for treatment at the hospital, Prouty Garden served as a welcome escape from the daunting hospital atmosphere; a refuge during times of stress; an exercise area during prolonged recovery periods; and even a bird-watching outpost when a pair of hawks took up residence under the ventilation unit on the roof of one of the neighboring buildings.

caitlin o'hara

Caitlin has been a patient at Boston Children's Hospital for nearly 30 years, since she was diagnosed at age 2 with Cystic Fibrosis. She is temporarily living in Pittsburgh while she waits for a lung transplant at UPMC. After undergoing major surgery to remove a portion of her lung in 1995, the Prouty Garden was a place of refuge, healing, and inspiration while she regained her strength over several months. The garden has continued to be a mainstay of countless hospital admissions throughout her life, and has shaped the way she has learned to cope with her illness.

shelley senai

In 2013, Shelley and her husband spent several months living at Boston Children's Hospital while their newborn daughter prepared for and recovered from surgery to repair her bowels. She was born with a rare condition called gastroschisis that required immediate surgery and hospitalization following her birth. While at the hospital, Shelley and her family found immeasurable comfort in the garden and still feel they could not have survived their inpatient stay without it. Shelley is a public relations consultant and lives in Framingham, Mass. with her husband, Andreas, and their now healthy two-year-old daughter, Juniper.