Philanthropist Pleasant Rowland donated $10 million toward the construction of a new transplant clinic at UW Health University Hospital, the Madison, Wis.-based hospital said Feb. 9.
The donation will go toward a $20 million project to move the hospital's transplant clinic to the main floor of the hospital. The effort will make the clinic more accessible to patients, expand its clinical space and give families a more comforting lounge.
Ms. Rowland, who founded the educational doll company American Girl, had a kidney transplant at the hospital's transplant clinic in 2012.
"It feels nearly impossible to say thank you enough to the kidney donor who saved my life and to the many doctors and staff at University Hospital who made it happen,” Ms. Rowland said in a news release. "This gift today is my way of saying thank you to the team for the incredible care I received here, to the many donors and their families for making such a selfless choice, and as a gift to all the transplant recipients who will come here seeking a second chance at life."