$89 Million Pledged in National Telethon for Sick Children
More than $89 million was pledged during the weekend in a national telethon for hospitalized children, and organizers said it was the most money ever raised in such a broadcast.
The Children’s Miracle Network said after the event’s finale televised from Disneyland that the $89,456,007 in pledges brought the eight-year total to more than $336 million.
A live, two-way satellite hookup was made between the studio and the Soviet Union, where Dmitri Leschyova of Leningrad reportedly saw his 4-year-old daughter, Olga, walk for the first time. Surgical treatment at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., corrected spasticity in her legs caused by infantile cerebral palsy.
Organizers said the telethon was carried by 180 TV stations, and the funds pledged in each community will remain there to be donated to 160 participating hospitals.
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