Photos: Smiling faces, music herald start of construction Published on Monday, December 4, 2017 Batson Children's Hospital patient K.J. Fields leads a procession of patients and family members at the groundbreaking. Batson Children's Hospital patient Addison Hamm and family members take a seat. Mary Ellis Cravey, a Children's Cancer Center patient and leukemia survivor, sings "What A Wonderful World" to open the ceremony. Felton Walker, a Batson Children's Hospital patient, smiles during a day filled with hope for the future of children's health care. The new children's tower will include additional space for neonatal and pediatric intensive care unit space, more operating suites and a pediatric imaging center. An outpatient clinic is also part of the project. UMMC Chaplain Doris Whitaker offers the invocation. Cheering on the coming construction of a new children's tower at UMMC is Sara Ray, center, who was board chair of Friends of Children's Hospital when the nonprofit pledged $20 million toward the construction. Joe and Kathy Sanderson, co-chairs of the Campaign for Children's of Mississippi, help Batson Children's Hospital patient Avery Bell in breaking ground on the new children's tower.