There is another reason Jeb would have a soft spot for children in distress. His sister, Robin, died of leukemia. Certainly this would have affected his childhood as his parents, George and Barbara, went through the illness and death of this little girl and their efforts to raise awareness of the need for cancer research.
“Robin Bush (1949-1953)
George and Barbara’s first daughter, Pauline Robinson Bush, was born in 1949. Shortly after her brother Jeb was born, three-year-old Robin was diagnosed with leukemia, which was a death sentence in the early 1950s. The doctor suggested that George and Barbara keep their daughter at home, in Texas, as the illness ran its course, but instead they admitted her to Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York, renowned for its cancer research. Despite doctors’ efforts, Robin died seven months later, on October 12, 1953. In recognition of the lifetime of work that George and Barbara Bush have dedicated to raising awareness and money for cancer research, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston surprised the Bushes in 2004 when they opened The Robin Bush Child and Adolescent Clinic.”