The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Today, Lew Parker rides the school bus home on his own.
For most families, it’s an ordinary milestone. For the Parkers, it’s something they never imagined would be possible.
A few years ago, we shared Lew’s story of severe epilepsy, which brought terrifying seizures that could strike every hour, leaving his family in a constant state of vigilance. Today, thanks to a groundbreaking clinical trial at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals’ Pediatric Epilepsy Center of Excellence (PECE), Lew is a thriving high school student who has been seizure-free for years. Now that his health has stabilized, Lew’s mother, Jen, has found space to reflect on their family’s journey in a forthcoming memoir.
As Lew’s life has opened up, so has the legacy his family created.
In gratitude for the care that changed their son’s future, the Parkers established the Murphy Parker Endowed Professorship in Pediatric Epilepsy, and their investments also helped launch PECE, a groundbreaking model of wraparound care for families affected by epilepsy. At the time, Jen says, their motivation was simple.
"We thought we were thanking Joe,” she says, referring to Joseph Sullivan, MD, the neurologist whose expertise and compassion guided their family through Lew’s most difficult years, and the first recipient of the professorship. "I don’t think we understood the perpetuity of it."
Years later, the impact of that decision continues to unfold. The Parkers’ gift has become a permanent resource for pediatric epilepsy, helping UCSF invest in exceptional faculty members and sustain groundbreaking research and care.
"An endowed professorship is an important gift to the future,” says S. Andrew Josephson, MD, dean of the UCSF School of Medicine. "It gives us the ability to recruit and retain important leaders in the field, but its impact reaches much further: Each person who holds that professorship brings new ideas, advances discovery, and shapes the care we provide for generations of patients. The Parkers’ generosity will continue to make a difference in ways that likely none of us can fully anticipate today."
The result is a legacy that extends far beyond Lew’s extraordinary journey, creating new possibilities for children and families affected by epilepsy well into the future.
With Lew thriving, Jen Murphy Parker is set to publish her first book. Her forthcoming memoir, Fault Line Boy: A Mother’s Reckoning with Epilepsy, reflects on her family’s experience caring for a child with severe epilepsy and the resilience they discovered along the way.
The book will be published by She Writes Press on November 17, 2026.
