CoxHealth · Children's Miracle Network

The Children
of the Checks

A decade of display checks for the CMN telethon — designed, printed, and iterated in-house from two yellow sheets taped together to something worth keeping.

Years active 2002 – 2013
Children featured 10
Cost reduction ~85%
Organization CoxHealth Printing Services
The Problem

Two yellow sheets,
taped together.

After about a year at CoxHealth, a representative from Children's Miracle Network came to printing services needing more telethon checks printed for the upcoming broadcast. They were referred to me as the designer on staff.

The sample they brought gave me a double-take scratch-stop. It was two yellow sheets of paper taped together with some printing which resembled a check in only the vaguest sense. Apparently this was what they'd been using for years to present donations from area organizations to CMN on television.

I was appalled.

The original. Two sheets of yellow paper, taped together. No image survives — and none was worth keeping.

We had about a month. I negotiated access to the engineering department's large-format plotter in exchange for replacement ink cartridges, designed a realistic display check sized to cut cleanly on our 32-inch guillotine cutter, shot a photo of a blue sky with fluffy clouds for the background, and embedded the CMN phone number in the routing field. Fifty checks, printed in full color, mounted on pasteboard for rigidity.

They were a hit.

Outside vendor quote (with donation discount) $50+ each
In-house cost under $7 each
Cost reduction ~85%
The Chronicle

The checks, year by year.

Each year brought refinements. Each child made the next one harder to throw away.

2002 The original CMN display check, 2002 — blue sky and clouds
The Cloudscape
The one that started it all

The check which started it all — before the idea to include the CMN children. Already light-years ahead of two yellow sheets taped together. Organizations actually kept these. The old yellow checks had always gone straight in the trash.

Other CMN chapters around the country would eventually try to replicate this formula.

2004 CMN display check featuring Cole Hill, 2004
Cole
The first child

Two years after the cloudscape check, Cole Hill of Springfield was added to the background. He was an even bigger hit than the first check.

Cole's original check was simpler — the idea to include the children's stories in the memo field hadn't arrived yet. That would come the following year, and it changed everything.

2005 CMN display check featuring Cole Hill with memo story, 2005
Cole, revisited
The memo field finds its purpose

The second year with Cole brought the insight that would define the rest of the series: put the child's story in the memo field. Once that happened, the checks became more than design objects. They became records.

From the memo field When Cole Hill, of Springfield, MO was born, he suffered from a severe meconium aspiration. The stress of his birth caused him to inhale a bowel movement. His lungs were completely full of meconium. He was rushed to St. Louis where the doctors were not sure that he was going to live. After 17 days in St. Louis, Cole made a complete recovery. Your donations to Children's Miracle Network helped provide Cole with synagis shots to prevent him from contracting the deadly RSV virus.
2006 CMN display check featuring Lauren Anderson, 2006
Lauren
The lineup begins
From the memo field When Lauren Anderson of Springfield, MO was born, she suffered a Bilateral Brachial Plexus Injury. The nerves responsible for arm and hand movement were severed and stretched, leading to partial paralysis in both arms. Lauren has undergone many surgeries and therapies to increase movement in her hands and arms. Your donations to Children's Miracle Network allow Lauren to get Physical and Occupational Therapy at CoxHealth, pay for her growth hormone treatment, and help her family get to specialty appointments out of town.
2006 CMN display check featuring Blake Shanks, 2006
Blake
Two checks in one year
From the memo field When Blake Shanks of Willard, MO was born, he was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot — a hole in his heart with a pulmonary valve too narrow. If he cried, he lost oxygen and turned blue. At just 4 months old, he underwent open heart surgery to correct the defect. He is now doing wonderful. Your donations helped Blake's parents travel to specialty appointments, provided oxygen when he needed it, and assisted with the cost of his CoxHealth hospital bills.
2007 CMN display check featuring Danielle Roeder, 2007
Danielle
From the memo field When Danielle Roeder was 6 months old, she started losing all muscle control until she was completely wheelchair bound — unable to move a muscle, speaking in a tiny strained whisper. Doctors did not know what was wrong and she was misdiagnosed for 6 years. In the summer of 2005, with the help of Children's Miracle Network, Danielle and her family traveled to the Mayo Clinic. After days of testing, she was diagnosed with L-Dopa Responsive Dystonia — which mimics the symptoms of Parkinson's. Now, with daily medication, Danielle can drive a power wheelchair, talk, sing, write, and most importantly, walk.
2008 CMN display check featuring Megan White, 2008
Megan
From the memo field On Mother's Day of 2007, Megan White was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. She underwent surgery to remove a 6-pound tumor that had swallowed one of her kidneys, then spent the next year in extensive chemotherapy. Through all of it, Megan continued to dance — and even compete at national competitions. Thanks to your donations, Megan is now able to call herself a cancer survivor.
2008 CMN display check featuring Jodelyn and Scotlyn Belew, 2008
Jodelyn & Scotlyn
Two sisters, one check
From the memo field Jodelyn and Scotlyn Belew were born 13 weeks premature. Jodelyn weighed 2 pounds 1 ounce; Scotlyn weighed 1 pound 14 ounces. Though Scotlyn was smaller at birth, she grew into a healthy little girl. Jodelyn suffered a staph infection in her brain and underwent a craniotomy at 6 months of age, then was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Jodelyn receives physical and occupational therapy at the CoxHealth Meyer Center and grows stronger every day.
2009 CMN display check featuring Jackson, 2009
Jackson
From the memo field At just 2 years old, Jackson was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma — a rare cancer found in his prostate and bladder. He received radiation and chemotherapy in St. Louis. About a year later, his family received the news that he was officially cancer free. Jackson is now 3 years old, enjoying being a normal three-year-old boy. His parents are grateful for the donations that helped their son have a second chance.
2010 CMN display check featuring Brooke Kincaid, 2010
Brooke
From the memo field In 2005, when Brooke Kincaid was 2 years old, her parents noticed a lump in her leg and took her to the ER at Cox South. Doctors found additional lumps in her skull and on her adrenal gland. After being rushed to St. Louis Children's Hospital, Brooke was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. After 6 rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, Brooke is able to call herself a cancer survivor.
2011 CMN display check featuring Kadie, 2011
Kadie
The last child
From the memo field When Kadie was born, she was immediately flown to St. Louis after doctors discovered her heart was on the wrong side of her body and she was missing most of her esophagus. She was diagnosed with a rare condition called Scimitar Syndrome and has had 11 surgeries. She continues to overcome medical obstacles and is truly a miracle. She enjoys cooking, gymnastics, and karate.
2012 CMN display check, clouds only, 2012
Back to clouds.
The children are gone

New management objected. Too much lightness, they said. The cameras took a moment to adjust their white-point compensation on the sky. The checks moved back to clouds only.

Mild protests and inquiries were met with certain answers: the children were no longer to be a feature of the checks.

2013 CMN display check, plain blue, 2013 — the final check
Plain blue.
The final check

Plain blue. No children, no sky, no stories in the memo field. A few years after this, they stopped asking for checks at all.

2002–2013

Thus ended the era of
the Children of the Checks.

The work outlasted the organizational will to sustain it. That's a different thing than failure.