Elizabethtown connection benefits Baptist Health Hardin patients with cancer

ELIZABETHTOWN, KY (Aug. 29, 2024) – Baptist Health Foundation Hardin has received a $100,000 pledge from the Steven Vanover Foundation. The donation will be directed toward the cancer resource center in the new Baptist Health Hardin Medical Pavilion.

The resource center will offer access to educational materials, along with a selection of wigs, mastectomy bras, breast prostheses, compression camisoles and other items while patients are receiving care from their occupational therapist. In appreciation, the resource center will be named in honor of the Steven Vanover Foundation.

Based in Louisville, the Steven Vanover Foundation works to support initiatives that meet the needs of patients and fund the science that leads to cures for sarcoma and other rare cancers. The foundation is named after the late Steven Daniel Vanover, who was diagnosed with desmoplastic small round cell tumors (DSRCT), a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma, in December 2013, at the age of 23. To date, the foundation has raised $1.2 million to support initiatives aligned with its mission.

Vanover graduated from the University of Louisville J.B. Speed School of Engineering with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. He started his career at Universal Woods in Louisville as a new product developer engineer just months before receiving a cancer diagnosis. During his nearly 15-month course of treatment, he experienced multiple setbacks, and his treatment options became increasingly limited.

“As all of Baptist Health Hardin’s cancer care services come under the same roof for the first time in the medical pavilion, we are grateful the Steven Vanover Foundation chose to make things even easier for patients diagnosed with cancer,” said Mike Bowers, Baptist Health Foundation Hardin board chair.

Shivang Patel, president of the Steven Vanover Foundation, has personal ties to the Elizabethtown and the Hardin County community. A 2017 graduate of Elizabethtown High School, Patel shadowed John Godfrey, MD, chief medical officer with Baptist Health Hardin, for several years while earning his Bachelor of Science in public health from the University of Louisville.

Patel first encountered the Steven Vanover Foundation during his time at U of L as a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, a fraternity of which Vanover had also been a member. Patel served as a member of the executive board for Spin for Steven (SFS), the fraternity’s annual cycling fundraising event in support of the Steven Vanover Foundation. During Patel’s time with SFS, Pi Kappa Alpha donated more than $150,000 to the foundation.

Patel, who went on to earn a Master of Health Administration from the University of Kentucky in 2023, now serves as program manager within the Primary Care Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and has served as president of the Steven Vanover Foundation since June 2023.

"One of our top priorities as a foundation is to ensure that cancer patients in Kentucky can receive the care they need and deserve without having to leave the state," said Patel. "An investment in Baptist Health Hardin - a hospital I personally know excels and provides excellent care – aligns directly with this priority."