On Wednesday, May 7, CBS Radio’s Drex, Maney, and Cassiday of KISS 95.1FM broadcasted live from the Seacrest Studios at Levine Children’s Hospital as “Chris 95.1FM.” Proceeds from the annual “Play Anything Day” radiothon benefit Levine Children’s Hospital. For many patients and families, the hospital becomes a home away from home while receiving long-term medical care. Philanthropy ensures that programs and services are available to these patients and their families—such as the Child Life program—making their experience at the hospital as positive and comfortable as possible.
For one day only, KISS 95.1FM was renamed “Chris 95.1FM” in honor of Chris Corsi, a senior at Marvin Ridge High School. In June of 2013, Chris sustained a spinal cord injury after diving into a swimming pool. While the emergency surgery he underwent at Levine Children’s Hospital in order to remove the debris and fuse his C5 and C7 vertebrae was a success, the ultimate outcome was not. Chris is now a quadriplegic and is paralyzed from the chest down. He spent over 67 days at Levine Children’s Hospital Inpatient Rehabilitation. With the help of the amazing occupational and physical therapists at Levine, Chris has been able to make considerable progress in becoming as independent as possible, given his new limitations. That would not have been possible without the incomparable level of care and support he received from the doctors, nursing staff and therapists at Levine Children’s Hospital.
Alongside Drex, Maney, and Cassiday, Chris Corsi and his family enjoyed taking callers’ song requests throughout “Play Anything Day”, with each caller making a pledge to support Levine Children’s Hospital with their request. Special visitors stopped by Levine Children’s Hospital and the Seacrest Studios to visit the “Chris 95.1FM” Team, including Rebecca and Mark Cody (shown below) with their twin girls, Michaela and Carrie, who spent 100 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Levine Children’s Hospital. The Seacrest Studios also received a special visit from a previous Play Anything Day stars, Victoria (of “Victoria FM”) and Angel (of “Angel FM”), both patients at Levine Children’s Hospital.
Due to the generosity of “Chris 95.1FM” listeners, along with a tremendous gift of $6,000 from our friends at Planet Fitness, Play Anything Day raised over $40,000 to support Levine Children’s Hospital. We are grateful to CBS Radio, the Corsi family, and the countless volunteers who contributed their time and energy to another successful Play Anything Day radiothon.