The award is given annually to an individual who, in the view of the Family Research Council (FRC), has demonstrated extraordinary courage and sacrifice in standing up for their Christian faith, biblical principles or religious liberties, often in the face of legal penalties, imprisonment or intense public backlash.
The name references the concept of the "cost of discipleship," a theological idea popularized by Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer regarding the personal sacrifices required to truly follow Christ.
In 2024, pediatric nurse Vanessa Sivadge was fired from her position at the state's largest children's hospital for uncovering alleged Medicaid fraud, as it was using federal funds to cover cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for minors in violation of Texas law.
Now leading the advocacy group Protecting Texas Children, she sat down with Tony Perkins of FRC at last week's Pray Vote Stand Summit to share her story.
"I don't think I can fully ever encapsulate or put into words what it's like to watch young women, week after week, start to look like boys and what it's like for boys to slowly start to look like girls," she said. "They are destroying the good thing that God created when he made them male and female."
In 2023, when she was asked to instruct a young patient on how to administer what she later learned were cross-sex hormones, she felt the need to tell someone.
"I was devastated by that, that I had played a role in the gradual destruction of the body that God had so lovingly designed for him," Sivadge shared. "It was at that moment that I decided to call a reporter, and that's when I blew the whistle anonymously."
TCH had publicly described a "Transgender Care Program" and its provision of gender-affirming care, and Sivadge alleged that the hospital was facilitating gender transition among minors through puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. She said providers encouraged parents to affirm children's claimed gender identities, sometimes warning that failing to do so could lead to self-harm or suicide, and medical records were sometimes altered to facilitate hormone prescriptions.
Sivadge also claimed vulnerable children, including some with mental health issues or histories of trauma, were being directed toward gender-transition treatments.
Sivadge had also filed a lawsuit alleging that Texas Children's Hospital and affiliated providers improperly submitted Medicaid claims related to gender-transition treatments for minors. The U.S. Department of Justice subsequently joined the matter.
The case recently culminated in a federal settlement. Though the hospital disputed Sivadge's allegations and did not admit wrongdoing, it agreed to remove past public statements regarding the former employee and fund a dedicated clinic providing free medical care for individuals experiencing regret from transition procedures.
AFA Action, the political and governmental affairs affiliate of the American Family Association (AFA), is a sponsor of the summit where Sivadge was honored.
Editor's Note: American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
