From Miracle to Legacy: One Woman’s Planned Giving Journey

Elizabeth McCaffrey (center) and Holy Name’s Ed Torres, Administrative Director of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Dr. David Sorrentino, Chief of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, with plaque commemorating the first administration of RhoGAM

We can never know how many babies were lost due to Rh factor incompatibility before the introduction of RhoGAM, first administered in the United States at Holy Name Medical Center in 1968. Yet in the 1950s, thanks to groundbreaking treatments at Holy Name, Anne and Nathaniel McCaffrey saw their family grow to five healthy children, including Elizabeth, the youngest and only girl.

As a teenager, Elizabeth first learned of her parent’s prior Rh factor struggles and traumas and how she and her brother were “miracle babies.” Without treatment, a mother’s Rh-negative blood produces antibodies that attack the red blood cells of a baby’s Rh-positive blood. As a result, pregnancy loss was common.

Recently, Elizabeth has retired from a fulfilling career in user experience design at leading online brokerage firms. Her mother Anne’s foresight and compassionate estate planning resonated deeply with Elizabeth when the time came to plan her own estate. With practical guidance from her financial advisor, Elizabeth overcame the hurdles of delaying the creation of her own plan that gives back to the key organizations that shaped her.

Today she’s proud to include Holy Name’s Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in her estate plan. “It helps me express my gratitude, ensuring that other families can experience miracles as we did decades ago,” Elizabeth says. “Holy Name will always hold a special place in my heart as the place where our family’s miracles first happened.”