Nancy and Steve Gariepy were about to complete a lifelong travel goal.

The Cleveland couple had reached Australia, their seventh continent, and were enjoying a two-week adventure along the country's east coast. Just one day before their flight home, Nancy was walking along the shoreline when a rogue wave struck from behind, throwing her onto coral rocks. The accident left her with a serious knee injury and three pelvic fractures.

“Suddenly, our dream vacation became a medical crisis,” Steve recounted.

The injury was painful; getting home proved complicated. Australian physicians required 10 days of observation before Nancy could fly. Then came another hurdle. Airlines needed proof that a hospital bed would be waiting for her in the United States before approving the specialized stretcher transport she required.

From 14 time zones away, Steve began making urgent calls. One was to UHConnect, a care coordination team at UH that helps patients and families navigate urgent medical needs and connect with specialized care across the health system.

Within minutes, Erika Novak, Supervisor, UHConnect, returned his call. She provided Steve with Nancy’s reserved bed number at UH and informed him that her care had already been assigned to Robert Wetzel, MD, Program Director, Orthopaedic Surgery, UH Cleveland Medical Center, and the Clay and Beth Rankin Family - Matthew Kraay, MD, Chair in Orthopedic Leadership.

“Thousands of miles from home, it felt like a miracle,” said Steve.

After 17 days confined flat on a hospital bed in Australia, Nancy landed in Cleveland late at night. The next morning, Dr. Wetzel reviewed her case and laid out a treatment plan. He gave the encouraging news that if he did the surgery that day, Nancy could go home in a day or two.

That same day, using advanced image-guided techniques, Dr. Wetzel repaired Nancy’s injuries with four precisely placed curved pins. True to his word, she returned home the next day with a walker and a path toward recovery.

Six weeks later, Steve captured his favorite photograph from the experience. It was not one of the nearly 1,000 images he captured in Australia, but instead an image of the moment Dr. Wetzel looked at Nancy during a follow-up appointment and said, “Say goodbye to your walker.”

The experience left the Gariepys with gratitude. “Thank you, UHConnect,” they said. “Thank you, Erica Novak. Thank you, Dr. Wetzel. Thank you to the entire UH team. And thanks to the many donors whose generosity helps ensure that the care Nancy received will be available to countless others in their moment of need.”

Why the Gariepys Chose a Qualified Charitable Distribution

Steve, an estate planning attorney who is Chair of the UH Diamond Advisory Group and National Co-Chair of the Estate Planning and Business Succession Group at Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP, understands how philanthropy can make a difference. After Nancy's recovery, the couple chose to support UH through a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from Steve's IRA. A QCD allows individuals age 70½ or older to make a gift directly from an IRA to a qualified charitable organization.

Benefits of a QCD include:

• Supporting UH programs and caregivers that matter most to you.
• Satisfying all or part of an annual Required Minimum Distribution (RMD).
• Excluding the gifted amount from Federal taxable income.
• Potential state income tax advantages.
• For 2026, eligible individuals may contribute up to $111,000 through a QCD.

To learn more about making a QCD, please contact the UH Gift Planning Team.