David Simon and Carley Exiga share their stories
Art Space volunteer draws inspiration from young friend
3 minute read | Published January 31, 2025
Medically Reviewed | Last reviewed by an MD Anderson Cancer Center medical professional on January 31, 2025
If you ask David Simon what he likes best about volunteering at MD Anderson, you’ll get a grin and a one-word answer.
“Schmoozing.”
Every week, the retired CPA gets creative with patients and caregivers in the Art Space for Patients and Caregivers and chats with patients and families at Cancer Connection. He’s happy to talk and happy to listen, quietly figuring out what each person needs.
“I try to give people a respite from whatever they’re dealing with,” Simon says.
Since opening in October 2023, the Art Space has become a haven for patients and caregivers eager to take their minds off treatment and explore their creativity. It’s an expansive room with white walls, welcoming work areas and pops of color everywhere – from rainbow-hued pens and pencils stuffed in small tubs to vibrant pieces of patient art clipped to wires and strung in strands across the walls.
Art Space manager Kasey Marsh says Simon is a wonderfully soothing presence.
“David is fantastic with little kids,” Marsh says. “It’s like they think he’s magical. It’s that sense of safety and calm.”
A personal connection to MD Anderson and cancer
Married with four grown daughters and three growing grandchildren, Simon knows firsthand what it feels like to support a loved one through cancer.
The reason he started volunteering at MD Anderson was a young boy who was like a grandson to him.
This boy and his family moved from Argentina to Houston five years ago, settling into the same apartment complex where Simon and his wife live. Both families share the Jewish faith.
“He was 6, and his sister was 3,” Simon says of the child. “We started playing chess. His father started coming over in the mornings to watch the stock market open with me. We all truly became family.”
After he was diagnosed with cancer, Simon’s young friend underwent surgery and chemotherapy. He came to MD Anderson for radiation therapy.
“He’d come to my home every month before treatment,” Simon says. “I taught him how to shop online to buy stuff for the hospital. I even took him for a couple of treatments.”
The two enjoyed weekly dinners, movies, crafts, shopping for coins and Pokémon cards, and other fun activities. The boy coined the term “McDavid’s” after Simon and his spouse made the family hamburgers with prizes.
“He was such a special child and a blessing to me and my family,” Simon says.
On Simon’s 70th birthday, his young friend gave him a Hot Wheels car as a present, along with a card that Simon keeps on his desk.
One month later, on his 10th birthday, the boy passed away.
Stepping up to volunteer
Simon still remembers the morning at MD Anderson when he saw a woman in an MD Anderson jacket answering questions and offering directions to patients and families.
“I walked right up to her and said, ‘Are you a volunteer?’” Simon recalls. “She nodded, and I immediately asked, ‘What’s my first step?’ That’s when my second career, as a volunteer, began.”