Patient's brave spirit inspires teen lounge renovation

Michael Carta's legacy lives on through his mother's generosity

The newly renovated Michael Carta and Louis Sciame Teen Lounge, located at the Ronald McDonald Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center, offers teens a home away from home while receiving care at LUMC. The renovation has been made possible by a $40,000 gift from Mary Lou Carta in honor of her late son, Michael, who had been a cancer patient at Loyola University Health System in the late 1980s, and her late brother, Louis.

"It's a good way to let people know the kind of men they were," Mrs. Carta says, describing Michael as a quiet and laid-back young man who also was very courageous and funny. "He never complained the whole time he was sick," she recalls. "He was upbeat and funny, and the one child I could depend on to make me laugh."

Read more about how Mrs. Carta preserved her son's memory.