Spinal Elements Raises $330K for Children’s Charities

The tally is in, and Spinal Elements reports that the donations raised in 2013 from its Hero allograft program for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital totaled more than $330,000—above the expected amount of $250,000 as previously projected during the company’s Hero Event during the North American Spine Society (NASS) meeting in October.

The company is predicting that the number will triple in 2014, with donations exceeding more than $1 million dollars by the end of the calendar year.

“We are currently working with doctors and hospitals across the country to let them know that as more and more surgeons and hospitals choose to use Hero Allograft, these donation numbers will grow exponentially, making many more Wishes come true for children and improving countless lives with free, top-of-the line care for children at St. Jude,” said Jason Blain, president and co-founder of Spinal Elements.

Spinal Elements began selling allograft in 2012, when in an unprecedented move, the company decided that they should donate 100 percent of the profits from the sale of its Hero Allograft tissue product to charities benefiting children with life-threatening medical conditions. Spinal Elements chose to name its first allograft tissue product Hero to honor those whose donation made the tissue donation possible. Hero was launched in October 2012 at the NASSmeeting.

The company, according to its leadership, sees allograft as a gift, and Hero Allograft honors that gift and pays it forward to children that need it most.

Spinal Elements recently hosted a Make-A-Wish event at their San Diego, Calif.-based headquarters, where 9-year-old Aidden James Whitsett was granted his wish of going to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas with his family and swimming with dolphins. Aidden’s favorite superhero is Batman, and the entire company got involved and hosted a superhero-themed ceremony in late January complete with Batman and Aidden’s very own Batmobile. Spinal Elements also granted the first-ever “Hero Cape” at the ceremony, beginning a Hero Event tradition for years to come.

The company also unveiled a Wish for a Wish Kid in Houston, Texas, last Fall, and will unveil another Wish for a Wish Kid in Denver, Colo., in April. Many more Wishes are planned to be unveiled across the country in 2014, including additional Wishes in Houston, San Diego and in San Francisco, Calif., during the Spinal Elements’ annual “Hero” event at the upcoming NASS convention in November.

Spinal Elements offers surgeons and hospitals across the country the opportunity to pledge to use only allograft tissue from companies that do not profit from the transfer of that tissue whenever clinically feasible. Allograft is human tissue that is obtained by way of an authorized gift of a donor and/or their family, and can then be turned into scores of medical products. Every year, 1.5 million of such products are given to American patients.

Spinal Elements was formed by Todd Andres and Blain in November 2003 and was originally named Quantum Orthopedics Inc. The privately held company makes spinal implants and instruments.