Roper St. Francis Foundation receives $2.5 million donation

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The Roper St. Francis Foundation received a $2.5 million gift from Rodney and Vicki Mott to fund an expansion of bone marrow transplant services and therapy treatments.

The donation is the largest in Roper St. Francis Healthcare’s history. The Motts were inspired to donate after Rodney Mott’s experience with cancer. The retired steel industry executive was diagnosed in late 2014 with multiple myeloma, a malignant uncontrolled growth of plasma cells in the bone marrow. Rodney Mott received a bone marrow transplant through the Roper St. Francis Bone Marrow Transplant Program.

“My wife, Vicki, and I considered programs nationwide and ultimately chose Roper St. Francis Healthcare because of its superior quality,” Rodney Mott said. “We recognize that there are substantial costs in maintaining this top level of care, and we want to support Roper St. Francis Healthcare’s efforts to enhance the program for decades to come.”

The new Mott Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program likely will be housed at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital in West Ashley. The donation will help expand the existing program, which has performed more than 300 transplants in its two-decade history.

About $1.5 million of the donation will be used to create an endowment to cover a coordinator position, which will serve as a patient’s primary guide through their cancer treatment. The remaining $1 million will cover renovations to a new facility to house the program, additional programs and new technology.

“Bone marrow transplants often represent the only hope of cure for some patients, and for others, they are substantially life-prolonging,” said Dr. George Geils Jr., medical director of the Roper St. Francis Bone Marrow Transplant Program. “We are proud of our cutting-edge approach, and this donation will help us to usher in the next generation of exciting transplant technologies.”