BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Holiday hole-in-one

By Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld, Staff writer | January 15, 2019

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Jesse McMillan, with fellow scouts from Troop 55 and friends from Strake Jesuit, built a miniature golf course at Nora’s Home. Jesse is pictured with 9-year-old Ximena Hernandez.

Transplant patients and their families residing at Nora’s Home, the first transplant hospitality home in the Gulf Coast region, received a special treat this holiday season. Jesse McMillan, with fellow scouts from Troop 55 and friends from Strake Jesuit, built a miniature golf course at Nora’s Home. Jesse, a junior, raised more than $14,000 for the initiative, his Eagle Scout project. A few days after the golf course was built, Jesse played a round with 9-year-old Ximena Hernandez from Arlington. Ximena, a double-lung transplant recipient from Texas Children’s Hospital, along with her family, stayed at Nora’s Home while she waited for her transplant and for her recovery afterwards. Ximena was too ill for a playground but thought mini golf would be fun. Jesse granted her wish when he built it, and she played putt-putt with him when she visited Houston for a check-up. Helping the guests at Nora’s Home was personal to Jesse; his cousin lived with his family while she waited for a heart transplant.

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