Wagner Family Foundation: 
Grateful for life-saving trauma care

This story originally appeared in the Summer 2024 edition of Promise magazine.

When a near-fatal car accident threatened his life, Ryan Wagner unexpectedly found himself in the caring and highly skilled hands of Dr. Laura Crankshaw, a fellowship-trained surgeon on Summa Health’s Trauma Center team.

In gratitude for the life-saving care Ryan received from Dr. Crankshaw, his parents, Lisa and Brian Wagner, gave an impactful gift to Summa Health to shine a light on her work in surgical trauma and help meet the needs of the entire surgical critical care team.

“Before the accident, we knew nothing about Summa Health,” said Brian. “We didn’t realize that Summa is a Level 1 Trauma Center. To go from being concerned that your son is on death’s door and is at a hospital you don’t know to getting the treatment that we did from Dr. Crankshaw, that’s why we wanted to support Summa.”

“It was a blessing that the paramedics decided to bring Ryan to Summa Health,” said Lisa. “When I look back, it truly was one miracle after another. Everyone was so caring, so gentle, so compassionate. Every experience with each team was like that. Our gift is an expression of our gratitude and a recognition of the vital work these healthcare heroes perform every day.”

Brian added words of appreciation for Dr. Crankshaw’s caring nature. “She went above and beyond. She even came in on her day off to see how Ryan was doing.”

Since being released from the hospital, Ryan’s health is beginning to rebound. He has returned to work and college classes and has started working out again.

Ryan expressed his own gratitude in a heartfelt letter to Dr. Crankshaw: “Thank you for keeping me alive so I can be here with the people I love. My words cannot express how grateful I am to you and to all the nurses in the ICU who cared for me.”

“We are deeply honored by the Wagner family’s decision to support our mission,” said Dr. Crankshaw. “Their gift will have a far-reaching impact, enhancing our trauma services and ensuring that we remain at the forefront of surgical critical care.”

With the generous support from the Wagner Family Foundation, surgical trauma care is strengthened when lives hang in the balance, providing another example of the profound power of grateful patients.

For more information, contact Summa Foundation at 330.375.3159 or foundation@summahealth.org.