Miami Children's Hospital holds prom for teen patients

MIAMI – About 75 teen patients at Miami Children's Hospital got to attend a Mad Hatter-themed prom Saturday, complete with an AstroTurf "red carpet."

The event was made possible through a $300,000 donation made by the Carlin family.

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"We are so thankful for the incredible donation from the Carlin family, who made making our first prom a reality," said Lucy Morillo, president and CEO, Miami Children's Health Foundation. "Their generous donation (is) giving us the opportunity to continue hosting proms at Miami Children's Hospital for the next four years."

A dinner was also hosted for the parents of the promgoers, where they got to watch the prom arrivals via live stream.

"As with any parents, there's nothing more important to us than our children's health and happiness," said Adam Carlin and Chanin Carlin. "Miami Children's is already doing such an incredible job taking care of all of our children's health. Perhaps we could make a difference for these children in helping to create a very special night of fun and happiness. We realized that many children, as a result of an illness, may not have had the opportunity to attend their prom and we decided to do something about it through Miami Children's Health Foundation. We just wanted these extraordinary children to have an amazing night and be able to forget about everything else happening in their lives."

Other national and local businesses pitched in by donating their time and services.

Volunteers for the prom included nurses, doctors, social workers and Child Life specialists.

"For the first time, Miami Children's Hospital teen patients truly enjoyed a rite of passage and celebrated like teenagers, not patients," said Susan Kinnebrew, director of Child Life. "It takes lots of effort to put together a prom of this magnitude and to make it truly special. We are very thankful for everyone that volunteered their time to come together for the children."

Click here to learn more about the Miami Children's Hospital Foundation.