How The Four Seasons Run To Beat Cancer 5K Benefits Maryland Families
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It is a home away from home for young cancer patients and their families, and it is a short walk from Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The Ulman House serves hundreds of people every single year, like Kris Lopez, and her 21-year-old son, Robert.
"This house is like a god-send," said Lopez, whose youngest son is receiving chemotherapy treatments at Johns Hopkins for an incurable form of cancer.
"To have two or three of us in the kitchen cooking at one time, it smells great, but number two, it's just great camaraderie," she added.
Lopez lives two hours away in southern Maryland. So, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on hotels, she stays at the Ulman House free of charge along with families from all over country, all of whom have loved ones battling life-altering illnesses.
"Our organization recognized that there was a gap in healthcare hospitality, places that families and patients could stay when they need to be in or near hospitals for extended periods of time," Ulman Foundation President and CEO Brock Yetso said.
The organization has been around for 25 years and stepped up to fill that gap by building its namesake house. It's a boon for families like Lopez's.
"It relieves a lot of our stress because we don't have the everyday at-home stuff that we have to deal with," Lopez told WJZ.
The inaugural Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore's Run to Beat Cancer 5K is on June 12. It costs $45 per person to register.
Proceeds will be donated to the Ulman Foundation and Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center's pediatric oncology division.
To make a donation or to register for the 5K run, visit the event page.