Firm Raises Money for Toddler’s Surgery
A 2-year-old Thousand Oaks boy is closer to getting a much-needed operation, thanks to a $28,000 donation from employees at a home loan company.
Steven Koss was diagnosed last May with severe aplastic anemia, which has caused frequent high fevers and bruising.
His parents, Shannon Smith and Scott Koss, were unable to come up with the $300,000 required for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant using blood from an umbilical cord at UCLA Medical Center. So they turned to the Children’s Organ Transplant Assn. in Bloomington, Ind., for help.
Newspaper stories about Steven’s plight moved employees at the Simi Valley office of Countrywide Home Loans to begin a fund-raising drive among co-workers at the approximately 400 branches nationwide.
Countrywide’s check was presented to Steven’s parents at a ceremony Wednesday at the company’s Simi Valley office.
“It represents the largest single contribution that Countrywide has ever presented,” said Mark Benhard, public relations manager for the Pasadena-based Countrywide Home Loans.
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