Friendship Between Doctor and Patient Family Results in Support for
Advanced Care.
Many know Eddie DeBartolo as a five-time Super Bowl champion as owner of the San Francisco 49ers, or as a 2016 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, or as a businessman and philanthropist. Now, through a relationship with a renowned physician and a health system committed to quality, DeBartolo and his wife, Candy, will be making positive change in an entirely different arena: lifesaving thoracic surgery.
The DeBartolo family recently made a generous gift to Baylor Scott & White Dallas Foundation, creating the Candy DeBartolo Endowed Chair in Thoracic Surgery at Baylor Scott & White Health. The funds associated with the gift will be used to help further the efforts of Dr. David Mason, chief of Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplantation at Baylor Scott & White, to support programmatic, education and/or research initiatives in thoracic surgery to advance the field. “On top of being a fantastic surgeon and a brilliant person, Dr. Mason is also a great man,” DeBartolo said.
The DeBartolos first met Dr. Mason several years ago at the Cleveland Clinic, where Dr. Mason treated a tumor on Candy’s lung. “They had found this small tumor that was in her lung, but it was behind her heart,” DeBartolo said, “and it was a really amazing situation. We went straight to the best and talked to Dr. Mason.”
DeBartolo believes Dr. Mason’s direct approach and excellent skills were a good fit to handle Candy’s care. Beyond that, the DeBartolos admire Dr. Mason’s commitment to his patients, and his genuine concern for their well-being.
Dr. Mason appreciated the way that Eddie and Candy DeBartolo interacted with those around them. “I can’t stress enough what a humble and kind man Mr. DeBartolo is, or how resilient and full of life Mrs. DeBartolo is,” Dr. Mason said. “They embody so many things that
I admire: Through a lifetime of hard work, they achieved incredible success while building personal relationships and treating members of their business and team as they would their own
family. Getting to know them has been a privilege,” he said.
When Dr. Mason told them of his plans to become chief of Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplantation at Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas, the DeBartolos offered their support and assistance. They endowed a chair that would help further Dr. Mason’s work in the areas of research, education and thoracic surgery programs. In doing so, they will help engender a legacy of lifesaving care for Dr. Mason and his team at Baylor Scott & White Health.
“I will continue to be involved with the success that he is creating,” DeBartolo said. “It’s very important because thoracic surgery is the lifeblood of a hospital.” “It is my goal to continue to grow
the Department of Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplantation at Baylor Scott & White Health into the No. 1 thoracic surgery program in the country,” Dr. Mason said. “I have great partners and a great team. We have had tremendous success so far, but still have many goals to meet in clinical care, research and education. I have a strong interest in developing novel methods of early detection of lung cancer and predictors of its recurrence. Finally, I would like us to find ways to better support the emotional needs of patients who are faced with frightening diagnoses. There is a lot of hard work ahead, but it is exciting.”
“The like-minded nature of these two gentlemen and the close relationship between Dr. Mason and the DeBartolo family will grow into something even bigger,” Rowland K. Robinson, president of Baylor Scott & White Dallas Foundation, said. “A relationship that started in a hospital room several years ago has grown into a legacy that is going to positively impact generations of patients for years to come.”
