Annual Report on Giving
July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022

A Life Saving—and Life Changing—Experience

Elizabeth Hoak and her late husband, David, have given back to pediatric neurosurgery in honor of the transformational care their son received at Iowa.

David (68BBA) and Elizabeth Hoak (70BA), of Des Moines, knew something wasn’t right when their 2-year-old son, Michael, stopped walking.

“Michael was such an active little boy that when he started to climb around—instead of walk—we immediately sought help,” says Elizabeth. “Our pediatrician recommended that we go see a pediatric neurosurgeon in Iowa City.”

At what is now known as UI Stead Family Children's Hospital, toddler Michael Hoak underwent multiple tests that unearthed a tumor circling his spine. Later that week, he endured the first of two surgeries and a month of hospitalization.

“We honestly didn’t have much hope, given his diagnosis,” says Elizabeth. “We didn’t know if he would live, and if he did, would he be paralyzed from the waist down? We just asked Neurosurgeon Arnold Menezes (74) to do his best.”

While Michael tackled years of follow-up appointments and wore a molded plastic brace throughout his teenage years, he’s since lived a relatively normal life. “Today you would never know Michael went through any of this,” says Elizabeth of her 45-year-old son who now lives in New York with his family. “It was a miracle, and we have nothing but gratitude for Iowa and Dr. Menezes.”

That’s why the Hoaks made an outright gift of $100,000, as well as an estate gift, to support the work of Dr. Menezes and Iowa’s pediatric neurosurgery department. Their contributions are supporting the most pressing needs of the department.

“I think the world of Dr. Menezes, and what he did for us is something you can’t repay,” says Elizabeth. “He saved my son, and supporting pediatric neurosurgery is a great way to thank him.”

Unfortunately, David died in 2022, but friends and family rallied to support Iowa’s pediatric neurosurgery department in his memory. To date, more than $42,000 has been donated in honor of David. Elizabeth and her sons, Michael and Jonny (07BBA), are grateful to everyone who has supported the important work happening at Iowa.

“I think it speaks to how they felt about my husband,” says Elizabeth. “It also shows that supporting pediatric patients at Iowa is such an important endeavor.”

A Life Saving—and Life Changing—Experience

Mary Ann (Keith) Stead (72BA) made a more than $1 million gift commitment to provide unrestricted support for the UI Stead Family Department of Pediatrics and patient care at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. She made the gift in honor of her late husband, Tom Stead, who died in 2007. Tom was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in 1971, at a time when little was known about the disease. Mary Ann credits medical professionals at Iowa for saving his life.

“We would have never been a family had it not been for University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics,” says Mary Ann, who lives in Florida but will always call Iowa home. “Because of my love for the state and the Stead family connection to the University of Iowa, I knew I wanted to give back and support Iowa.”

Mary Ann was inspired by Tom’s cousin, Jerre Stead (65BBA), and his wife, Mary Joy Stead, who made a transformational gift commitment to name UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital in 2015. “After taking part in The Wave with my family—including my four grandchildren—it drove home the importance and meaningfulness of supporting pediatric patients,” says Mary Ann.