{"id":13087,"date":"2018-12-17T17:50:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T17:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/a-holiday-hole-in-one-boy-scout-builds-miniature-golf-course-to-entertain-noras-home-guests\/"},"modified":"2019-08-16T15:04:43","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T15:04:43","slug":"a-holiday-hole-in-one-boy-scout-builds-miniature-golf-course-to-entertain-noras-home-guests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2018\/12\/a-holiday-hole-in-one-boy-scout-builds-miniature-golf-course-to-entertain-noras-home-guests\/","title":{"rendered":"A Holiday Hole-in-One: Boy Scout builds miniature golf course to entertain Nora’s Home guests"},"content":{"rendered":"
Christmas came early for transplant patients and their families staying at Nora\u2019s Home<\/a> thanks to Jesse McMillan, a junior at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston and member of the Boy Scouts of America<\/a>.<\/p>\n In December, the 17-year-old and several of his classmates built a miniature golf course where guests can decompress from stressful medical circumstances.<\/p>\n This year, to earn the prestigious title of Eagle Scout, Jesse needed to complete a service project. It could have been anything\u2014planting a garden in the community, collecting food and clothing or helping children\u2014but Jesse knew he wanted to benefit people in the Texas Medical Center.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought about some of my cousins. Their mom has breast cancer and they come to Houston for treatment a lot,” the teen said. “I thought about my cousin, Abbye, who had a heart transplant here in the medical center.”<\/p>\n Unfortunately, his cousin didn’t survive.<\/p>\n \u201cShe passed away about two years ago,\u201d said Sally McMillan, Jesse\u2019s mother. \u201cShe was diagnosed with congestive heart failure when she was 24 years old, had an LVAD ( left ventricular assist device) and then received a heart transplant, but it was too late.”<\/p>\n After raising $14,000 for his Eagle Scout project, Jesse initially set his sights on building a playground at one of the hospitals for the children of patients.<\/p>\n \u201cI just thought about my cousins and other kids like that,” Jesse said. “If me and my family weren\u2019t here, they wouldn\u2019t have been able to go to fun places while they were here and I wanted something fun for people who are sick to be able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n But Nora\u2019s Home guest Ximena Hernandez who recently received a double-lung transplant at Texas Children’s Hospital<\/a>\u00a0had another idea for him.\u00a0Because they live in Arlington, Texas, the 8-year-old and her mother stayed at Nora’s Home for eight months while awaiting the transplant and after the girl’s recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted a putt-putt course so I could have more fun,\u201d Ximena said. “It will be fun to go outside instead of staying in my room watching TV. I can go out and play with my mom now.”<\/p>\n Ximena spent years plagued by a progressive condition that decreased her mobility.<\/p>\n “Bronchiolitis obliterans is similar to cystic fibrosis, but she wasn’t born with it. She got it when she was 6 years old,” Ximena’s mother,\u00a0Leticia Jamie, explained. “She was having trouble breathing. It got so bad she was in a wheelchair, her bones were weak and she couldn’t do any of the activities other kids her age were doing.”<\/p>\n The six-hole course was built by Jesse and his friends in one day and has adjustable materials to make each hole more or less challenging for players.<\/p>\n Watch the course construction here:\u00a0Nora’s Home miniature golf timelapse video<\/a><\/p>\n