Inspired by nurses, couple creates endowed scholarship

When Rick McDaniel had a medical emergency on the tennis court in 1985 at age 50, his doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him.

“They were checking me for everything,” he said. “But they couldn’t figure it out.”

Finally, a spinal tap led to a diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack its nerves.

His care team impacted him so much he wanted to give back, especially to the nurses who became like family during his monthlong hospital stay.

“Nurses are the unsung heroes,” said Rick, who is now in his 90s. “I was always partial to nurses. They do hard work.”

But it wasn’t just the hard work that Rick appreciated. He was moved by the nurses who came by to check in on him and got to know him on a personal level, not just his medical history and prognosis.

“I knew all the nurses by heart,” he said. “I knew about their lives and their families.”

Rick expressed his gratitude to the hospital that cared for him with a donation. That was just the beginning of a decades-long commitment to philanthropy that continues today.

Rick and Kathi McDaniel establish endowed nursing scholarship at MUSC

When Rick and his wife Kathi retired to Johns Island from New York, they began to look for ways to support healthcare closer to home.

The couple made a planned gift to establish a future endowed nursing scholarship to the College of Nursing through a charitable gift annuity (CGA). The Richard and Kathi McDaniel College of Nursing Endowed Nursing Scholarship will support nursing students as they pursue their education and become the kind of professional caring nurses the McDaniels are so fond of.

The need for financial assistance among MUSC College of Nursing students is significant. Of the 604 students enrolled in spring 2026, 561 – nearly 93% – demonstrated financial need or relied on some form of financial assistance. In the same semester, 258 students received scholarship support through MUSC.

It takes a special person to provide the kind of care that makes you feel like family. And the McDaniels want to ensure that those who want to serve as nurses have that opportunity.

Kathi said it’s important to her to support students who are called to nursing as a career. She doesn’t want anyone to shy away from their calling to help others because of a financial burden. “They should be able to do what they want,” she said.

Supporting future nurses through a charitable gift annuity

The couple gives to a variety of charities, including MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and organizations that support veterans and animals.

CGAs are their preferred way to give at this stage of life because they provide a fixed income for the rest of their lives. After the donor's lifetime, the remaining funds support the charitable purpose they designated – in the McDaniels' case, an endowed nursing scholarship at MUSC.

For the McDaniels, it’s a win-win.

“I like to donate in a way that my heirs or I get income from it,” Rick said. “You can't take it with you, and my family's all taken care of, so I just think the best thing to do is donate to different charities.”