Cook Children's
During a tour of the new center bearing his son’s name, Dr. Peter Ku shares memories of Nelson’s life.
On the third floor of the Dodson Specialty Building at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, the doors of a newly opened clinic bear the name of a boy who passed away too soon. The Nelson Ku High Risk Asthma Clinic opened this summer, honoring an eleven-year-old who died after an asthma attack at school in February of 2024. For his parents — Dr. Peter Ku, D.D.S., a Fort Worth dentist and member of the Cook Children’s Board of Trustees, and his wife, Beth — the clinic is more than a memorial. It is a promise that their son’s life will continue to make a difference.
“We’re not looking to find fault. We’re looking to find purpose,” Dr. Ku said during a phone interview. “From day one, that’s what got it placed on our hearts — this is what we need to do.”
Nelson Ku was a boy who could hardly sit still. At home, he ran circles through the living room and slid down the hallway; at school, he kept teachers on their toes. “One of his favorite subjects was science,” Dr. Ku recalls. “He’d run the room, slide under the lab desks, and pop up with this big old smirk. The teacher would ask, ‘Nelson, what are you doing?’ And they’d smirk at each other.”
He was mischievous, yes, but also deeply compassionate. He would take notice of students who sat by themselves. “There was a girl having a hard time fitting in, and he would go sit with her and make her laugh at lunchtime,” Dr. Ku said. “For a child that age, that’s hard to do. I feel like that was God showing his love through him to others.”
Cook Children's
Even in small moments, Nelson’s personality was memorable. Days before his passing, he walked into class with a box of chocolates. “He said, ‘Oh, I didn’t get to have breakfast, so I decided to get a box of chocolate for breakfast.’ He just kind of did his own little thing,” Dr. Ku recalls.
Walking through the new clinic for the first time, Dr. Ku says the thoughtfulness struck him in every detail.
“They have individual exam rooms, and then on the opposite side of the hallway, all the doctors — not even strictly asthma specialists — can consult over patients right there in the clinic. I was just amazed.”
The clinic is designed to go beyond emergency care. Families are taught how to recognize triggers, follow medication regimens, and ensure children never find themselves without the tools they need to breathe.
“I honestly feel that no child should ever die from asthma because it’s controllable,” Dr. Ku says.
In June, Cook Children’s unveiled the Nelson Ku High-Risk Asthma Program, a new initiative designed to help children and families take control of asthma and its hidden dangers. The program focuses on identifying and addressing the obstacles that often lead children to an emergency room, providing families with the education, resources, and tools they need to reduce the severity of attacks and lower the risk of hospitalization.
The Ku family is also spearheading Project Nelson, a program that trains coaches, assistant coaches, and school staff to respond promptly to respiratory emergencies immediately.
“We hope to equip them with the needed medications to handle respiratory emergencies in an immediate response,” Dr. Ku says. “The school did all they could the day that happened, but we want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Dr. Ku still remembers the last morning he spent with his son. “I got up, kissed him on the back of the head, and said, ‘Nelson, I love you.’ He said, ‘Dad, I love you too.’ I never expected to get a phone call that afternoon.”
Now, amid Fort Worth’s medical district, Nelson’s story continues. His name adorns a clinic devoted to preventing the kind of tragedy that took him.
“Through this, we feel honored,” Dr. Ku says. “If we can protect other kids, if we can give families resources and hope, then Nelson’s story has purpose.”
