Honoring her Father’s Legacy while Leveraging Tax Benefits
By: Mark Nootbar
Jacqueline “Jackie” Shoener loves to ride her bike. So, when she was biking along the very flat landscape of the Netherlands while on vacation in 2023 and couldn’t catch her breath, she knew something was wrong.
Not long after returning home to Grove City, Pa., Jackie wound up in the emergency department. After several tests, scans, and consultations with various doctors, it was determined that she had three tumors on her liver.
“They were so large that they were making it hard for me to breathe, and they were pressing on my stomach. So, I could eat only a few bites before feeling full,” Jackie said. “It’s a form of sarcoma, which means there is no cure, only management.”
Jackie and her husband, Bob Grega, regularly travel from their Mercer County home to UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Shadyside to receive treatment from Benjamin Nacev, MD, PhD.
“I’ve been healthy all my life, and it was a bit scary to get this diagnosis,” Jackie said. “But the doctors and nurses are wonderful, and I feel good about their care.”
Her husband added, “It’s been quite a process, but generally, she’s improved. It’s been slowly easier to breathe, and we are finding things that she can and will eat.”
Jackie’s appreciation for the excellent care she’s receiving at UPMC Hillman led her to make a gift to the cancer center.
“I’ve always looked for a cause, and I thought, ‘someday I’ll find my cause,’” she said. “Well, due to my circumstances, I’ve found my cause — sarcoma research and treatment.”
Jackie is taking advantage of a tax benefit associated with making gifts from an IRA. If the funds are transferred directly to a charity such as the University of Pittsburgh or UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, they aren’t counted as income and, therefore, aren’t subject to income tax.
This tax law is especially beneficial for Jackie. She inherited an IRA from her father, who passed away in 2022. Ordinarily, when an adult child inherits an IRA, they have 10 years to collect these proceeds.
During that time, should the child get the proceeds directly, they are taxed as income. Instead, by giving the proceeds directly to a charitable organization, the recipient avoids taxes. The IRA rule allows her to take as much as $100,000 (indexed to inflation since 2022) from the fund each year without being taxed.
Jackie is using annual gifts to create the Dr. John A. Shoener Family Endowed Research Fund for Sarcoma. It honors both her father’s commitment to health care as a lifelong cardiologist and her personal journey with cancer.
“We thought her dad would really be happy with this,” said Bob, filling in for his wife, who became emotional about her father. “Jackie has been looking for something lifechanging to do with these funds.”
When Jackie turns 73 and has to start taking required minimum distributions (RMD) from her own IRA, she’ll use that money to further fund the Endowed Research Fund for Sarcoma.
Sarcomas are relatively rare cancers, with about 15,000 cases diagnosed each year globally. Most of the new cases are in children.
“I am a physician-scientist caring for patients with rare cancers while at the same time studying those cancers in the lab,” Dr. Nacev said. “Philanthropy makes a tremendous impact by allowing us to focus our research on the boldest ideas and most important questions, with a goal to bring better treatments back to the clinic as quickly as possible.”
Jackie’s tumors are shrinking, and she says she’s grateful that she has access to the level of care available at UPMC Hillman, knowing that not everyone has such centers within driving distance of their homes.
“I don’t pretend to think my giving will fully cover the cost of sarcoma research, but it‘s a start and something that I can do,” she said. “It is gratifying to know the fund that carries my father’s name will continue to support important sarcoma research even after I’m gone.”