Miracle Makers: Coloring Books, a Circus and a Heart Transplant

Miracle Makers is a series of 30 stories from Walmart and Sam’s Club associates to celebrate the companies’ 30th anniversary of fundraising for CMN Hospitals

Nearly 300 days. That’s how long Grace Cantrell spent at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in 2014, when she was just three years old. With an extremely rare form of heart disease called restrictive cardiomyopathy, Grace was given a heart transplant on her fourth birthday.

Her father Tim Cantrell, a 12-year Walmart distribution center employee in Monroe, Georgia, saw firsthand how services provided by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals aided in their near ten-month hospital stay.

“Look at the Cantrell family,” Tim says. “Look at Grace. Those little donations went to other families, and we know for a fact they went to ours. That made our nightmare go a lot smoother.”

With entertainment from visiting Big Apple Circus clowns, a Children’s Miracle Network-funded library with books and movies —  Winnie the Pooh was a Cantrell family favorite — and games and coloring, the Cantrells were supported through difficult circumstances. And now they have a story to share.

“I tell people, if you share stories, share mine,” Tim says. “Share how much we have benefitted from this organization and those dollars. Even though our future could seen grim, it’s bright at the same time because we know there are people who really care and sacrifice and work hard to make things better for families like mine. Our future is bright because we know that we’re not alone.”
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