Trinity Health Of New England raised nearly $500,000 for its thoracic oncology program during its fifth annual Making Miracles Happen gala, held Oct. 3 at The Riverview in Simsbury. Hundreds of colleagues, clinicians, benefactors, local leaders and guests gathered for an evening built around one patient's story of surviving a surprise lung cancer diagnosis, and the proceeds are headed toward expanding the very technology that helped save her.
The gala benefited the health system's thoracic oncology program across its network of hospitals and clinics, according to Voices News. Timothy R. Stanton, regional vice president of philanthropy at Trinity Health Of New England, said the evening celebrated miracles across the hospitals and ambulatory sites and honored a courageous patient and her care team. The near-$500,000 total raised will fund early detection technology and multidisciplinary care expansion across the region's facilities, according to the Saint Mary's Hospital Foundation.
The night's centerpiece was a grateful patient's account of her journey after a surprise lung diagnosis. Bett DeSantis, joined by her husband Bob DeSantis, shared her story, and the gala recognized the providers, nurses, technicians and support staff who cared for her along the way. WTNH News 8's Good Morning Connecticut anchors Keith Kountz and Laura Hutchinson emceed the event, which featured entertainment from the XS Band along with portraits and photo booth keepsakes for guests.
A Regional Hub for Robotic Lung Biopsies
The gala's fundraising push is tied directly to a technology that has quietly become central to how Trinity Health Of New England catches lung cancer early. Interventional pulmonologists across the system have now completed more than 1,500 robotic-assisted bronchoscopy procedures using the Ion endoluminal system as of this month, per the Saint Mary's Hospital Foundation. The shape-sensing robotic system lets clinicians navigate deep into peripheral lung tissue to sample hard-to-reach nodules without invasive surgery.
That volume didn't happen overnight. Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford completed its 1,000th robotic-assisted bronchoscopy using the Ion system in April 2025, reaching the milestone in fewer than 1,000 days after launching the technology in October 2022, per Trinity Health Of New England. Dr. Anil Magge, director of interventional pulmonology at Trinity Health Of New England, was among the first in Connecticut to perform the procedure. Dr. Stephan Kachala serves as chief of thoracic surgery, and the system's broader leadership includes Dr. Robert Roose, president of acute care, and Dr. Steven Hanks, president and CEO of Trinity Health Of New England.
New Tools Beyond the Scope
Beyond the Ion system, Trinity Health Of New England expanded its interventional thoracic oncology offerings last year by adding photodynamic therapy, customized 3D-printed airway stents and 3D fluoroscopy imaging, according to the Hartford Business Journal. The outlet recognized the system as a 2025 Healthcare Hero for integrating multi-specialty care across its thoracic program. That expansion mirrors the gala's own evolution: this year's event moved to The Riverview in Simsbury, a shift from the 2023 edition, which was held at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford and drew 700 attendees while raising funds for emergency departments across four regional hospitals, according to the Saint Francis Foundation.
Trinity Health Of New England operates as a regional Catholic health system managing three acute-care hospitals in Connecticut — Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury and Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford — alongside Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, according to the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy. The cross-state network allows coordinated specialty care spanning central Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
Connecticut's Screening Gap
The gala's emphasis on early detection lands against a backdrop of mixed news on the state level. Connecticut ranks second in the nation for high-risk lung cancer screening at 27%, trailing only Rhode Island and far exceeding the 18.2% national average, according to the American Lung Association's 2025 State of Lung Cancer report. Low-dose CT scans for high-risk individuals can reduce lung cancer mortality by up to 20% through early detection. The same report ranked Connecticut second nationwide in five-year lung cancer survival at 36.5%, a 27% improvement over five years compared with the 29.7% national average.
Yet the state's lung cancer incidence rate still ran slightly above the national average in 2025, at 54.4 new cases per 100,000 residents compared with 52.8 nationally, ranking Connecticut 27th in the country, per the same association report. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in Connecticut despite the state's strong survival rankings. Locally, an estimated 27,000 eligible adults aged 50 to 80 in Connecticut's Capitol Planning Region have missed recommended lung cancer screenings as of this year, leaving 1 in 12 qualifying adults unscreened, according to Oatmeal Health. Early detection significantly improves cure rates, while late-stage diagnoses remain a chief driver of cancer mortality statewide.
