When Penny Ford-Carleton’s husband, Brant, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2019, there was no question where he would receive his care: Massachusetts General Hospital. As a nurse with more than 50 years of experience working at Mass General, Penny knew first-hand the kind of knowledgeable, personalized care Brant would receive. What she didn’t know was how much comfort they would find in the supportive care spaces within the Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care and the inpatient units in the Lunder Building.
On their first outpatient visit, Brant and Penny discovered the eighth-floor Healing Garden, where they sat together on a bench overlooking the Charles River. “It is such a peaceful, protected, magical place,” says Penny. “We sat there looking at the water, and it was so beautiful that we kept returning. You need a place such as the healing garden where you don’t feel like a patient.”
After Brant passed away in 2021, Penny knew she wanted to honor him and recognize the caregivers who became like family to them. Her first generous gift established the Brant Carleton Endowed Chair in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research, honoring Hanno Hock, MD, PhD, who had overseen Brant’s care. Most recently, Penny named the Brant Carleton Memorial Infusion Bay Suite in the Phillip and Susan Ragon Building in honor of Brant and the Yawkey Infusion Center or as Brant called it, their “home away from home.”
“Brant would have loved the views of the Healing Garden from the Infusion Bay Suite,” says Penny. “To bring this peaceful space even closer for patients and their loved ones is incredible. It was always his fervent wish that there would be a Healing Garden in the new cancer care space, and he would be so pleased to contribute in a small way to its realization.”
Dr. Hock is also grateful for the support the Healing Garden brings to his patients and their loved ones. “The Healing Garden has a powerful effect on my patients, many who are immunosuppressed,” he says. “They and their loved ones often ask to visit the Healing Garden, and it is my favorite thing to say ‘yes,’ because I know they will come back stronger.”
The Mayor of Lunder 10
From his first moments as a patient, Brant embraced his new caregivers, assembling a network of friends and relationships across the hospital. This warmth and openness became Brant’s signature, earning him the nickname “the Mayor of Lunder 10” during his inpatient chemotherapy stay.
“Nothing broke Brant’s spirit,” says Penny. “The day after he was admitted to the hospital, I walked in, wheeling my suitcase behind me. Brant looked up and asked, ‘What’s that?’ I explained I was there to stay with him because he was starting inpatient chemotherapy. ‘But what about my nurses? My nurses are here,’ he said. From that moment on, I knew he felt cared for and protected by all of his team. And remarkably his Lunder nurses even returned to his bedside during his last hour in the medical ICU, as he knew they would.”
By establishing the Brant Carleton Memorial Infusion Bay Suite, Penny hopes to recognize and thank the community that nurtured Brant during his time as a patient — and that he nurtured in return.
“I am inspired by Penny’s remarkable career at Mass General and grateful for her visionary philanthropic support that honors her husband, Brant. Her gifts provide vital support to our top priorities, including endowed chairs that support our expert, compassionate caregivers like Dr. Hock and our newest building that will help us deliver the renowned care for which we are known.”
The Phillip and Susan Ragon Building
The Ragon Building, which will be the new home for cancer as well as heart and vascular care on the Mass General campus, is designed to unite its busy infusion services on one floor. The Brant Carleton Memorial Infusion Bay Suite will feature a collection of 10 infusion bays, many of which will provide a comforting view of the East Healing Garden — one of two 7,500-square-foot Healing Gardens in the new building — that will offer important, therapeutic moments of calm during patients’ infusion care.
With a centralized layout to foster communication between patients and their care teams, and ample space for family members to sit with their loved ones, the Ragon Building is designed to provide comfort and promote healing. In good weather, patients will be able to enjoy a serene outdoor space close to their care teams and treatment.
“I am inspired by Penny’s remarkable career at Mass General and grateful for her visionary philanthropic support that honors her husband, Brant,” says David F. M. Brown, MD, president of academic medical centers for Mass General Brigham. “Her gifts provide vital support to our top priorities, including endowed chairs that support our expert, compassionate caregivers like Dr. Hock and our newest building that will help us deliver the renowned care for which we are known.”
To learn more about how you can support the Ragon Building, contact us.
