Dinah Schnitzer with her sons Adam and Andrew Blumberg
Almost 30 years ago, Dinah Schnitzer’s two sons, Adam, 30, and Andrew, 27, were both diagnosed with congenital conditions of the digestive system when they were infants. As a result of the expert care they received at Texas Children’s, Schnitzer became a generous supporter.
“I’m fortunate to be able to give back to the hospital that has given so much to me,” she said. Not long ago, she made Texas Children’s Hospital the beneficiary of one of her life insurance policies.
“If people knew how easy it is to use your life insurance policy, they would do it. I’ve had this policy forever, and it makes such a wonderful gift,” said Schnitzer, member of the Abercrombie Society and 2000-2003 member of Children’s Circle of Care.
Both of her boys required kidney, bladder and stomach surgery, and while Andrew’s condition improved after just four procedures, Adam continued to need regular surgeries and treatments up until he was 18.
“We lived in Room 685. We’d go every six weeks, and the people at Texas Children’s were always wonderful to us. Adam walked out on his own every time we left, when so many children there couldn’t,” said Schnitzer.
“Adam is alive today because of Texas Children’s,” she added. In addition to her planned gift of life insurance, Schnitzer has made numerous outright contributions to the hospital since 1995. She even had a house built on a lot she owned and donated the proceeds of the sale to the Gastroenterology department to help fund treatment and research being conducted by one of her sons’ physicians, George Ferry, M.D., chief of Texas Children’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic and professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.
Schnitzer said she is lucky to have both boys here in Houston. Her family owns and operates King Koil Sleep Products, where she works along with her son, Andrew. Adam owns his own company, Truistics Software. She also said she looks forward to being a grandmother soon; Andrew and his wife, Natalie, are expecting their first baby in March.
“To look at my two sons today, you’d never know they had been sick,” said Schnitzer. “Texas Children’s was just super to us—and for us.”
