When Craig Hospital president Mike Fordyce asked Patti and Charlie Nelson if they’d be willing to chair Craig’s signature fundraiser, the PUSH Dinner, Charlie Nelson responded with a question:
“What’s the previous record?”
Nelson, the president of , thrives on competition and after telling Fordyce that he and his wife would be honored to chair the 14th edition of this awards dinner and auction, the Nelsons set their sights on beating previous records for income and attendance. With 1,300 guests and income of $1.2 million, they succeeded.
Commercial Realtor Art Seiden founded PUSH with his now-deceased wife, Julie, as an expression of their thanks for the compassionate care she received there following a catastrophic horseback riding accident. Seiden recently remarried, and was at the 2015 dinner with his bride, Judy.
The were attorney Stephen C. Peters, recipient of the Dave and Gail Liniger Spirit of Craig Award, and financial adviser Patrick Ireland, who survived being shot twice in the head and once in the foot during the Columbine High School tragedy. Calling himself “a victor, not a victim,” Ireland accepted the Christopher and Dana Reeve Inspiration Award.
Peters, who in 1979 lost the use of his legs in an automobile accident that claimed the life of his first wife just five weeks after they were married, is a Craig graduate, a past chair of the hospital board and an elite monoski racer. He has remarried, and his wife, Renee, accompanied him to the dinner held at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center.
Ireland, who also recovered at Craig, was valedictorian of his graduating class at Columbine and attended Colorado State University, where he met his wife, Kacie.
Kacie, along with Ireland’s sister, Maggie, a physical therapist at Craig, attended the dinner with Patrick’s and Maggie’s parents, John and Kathy Ireland, and retired Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis.
Craig graduate Paul Ahlquist sang the National Anthem while outpatient David Ortiz introduced a video that showed technology advances, including an adaptive race car. Ortiz, who sustained a spinal cord injury in the crash of a military helicopter, praised the Craig staff for “making the best out of the worst situations.”
Silver sponsors Margot and Allan Frank were hosts to a group that included Kim and Craig Zeller, a financial adviser with Morgan Stanley and uncle of a Craig patient.
Other attendees were Betsy and Peter Mangone; Don Kortz; former Craig president Denny O’Malley; Dr. Alan Weintraub; Mary and George Sissel, who chaired PUSH in 2012, and Linda and Don Childears, who will chair it in 2016. He is president of the Colorado Bankers Association and she heads the Daniels Fund.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joannedavidson
