AN EXTRAORDINARY GIFT
The hospital's cancer program received an astonishing gift in October 2008 from philanthropist Annette Bloch. Believed to be the largest individual gift to a hospital in the Kansas City area or Kansas, her $20 million donation for cancer patient care is targeted to our blood and marrow transplant, radiation oncology and breast imaging programs.
For more than three decades, Mrs. Bloch has advocated for increased cancer awareness and improved cancer care. After her husband, Richard, co-founder of H&R Block, was diagnosed with cancer in 1978, the Blochs became activists, co-authoring three books on cancer, building 24 Cancer Survivor Parks and launching annual rallies in more than 800 communities across North America. She has continued their work since his death.
A longtime friend of The University of Kansas Hospital, Mrs. Bloch also underwrote the Bloch Heart Rhythm Center at the hospital's Center for Advanced Heart Care and donated $1 million to the outpatient cancer center when it opened in 2007.
In recognition of her generosity, the outpatient cancer center and radiation oncology facility were named in honor of Richard and Annette Bloch.