Program Gives Cancer Patients & Families A Place To Stay
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- They come from all over the world to this special place in Baltimore, where cancer patients and their families can stay while receiving treatment at area hospitals.
Ron Matz has more All Postson where there's hope at this home away from home.
Welcome to Hope Lodge, a home away from home for cancer patients and their families: 26 rooms where they can stay for free while receiving treatment.
"It's a wonderful place. If it wasn't for the Hope Lodge, I don't know what I would do because I live so far [Prince Frederick] and our hospital down there doesn't have an oncology floor," said Wendy Zurenko.
Zurenko is staying here for the second time. She's being treated for stage four breast cancer.
"I was diagnosed the first time with breast cancer in April of 2015. I went through treatment in Calvert County. The second time, I was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. I had 161 radiation treatments and now I'm having chemo at the University of Maryland," Zurenko said.
Karen Seaberry is Hope Lodge's manager.
"The Hope Lodge is a reflection of the American Cancer Society's commitment to improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their caregivers," she said. "Our facility is a home away from home environment. We offer it to our cancer patients at no cost. It's free to stay here while they're undergoing cancer treatments for as long as they need it."
About 300 patients stay at Hope Lodge every year. All the services here are made possible through private donations.
"We are volunteer-dependent. We have minimal staff; that's how we do it, through volunteers and donations. Everything in this facility has been donated," Seaberry said. "When it's time to leave, they don't want to go home. When you see a grown man cry and say, `I'm happy I'm cancer-free but I don't want to leave the Hope Lodge,' that speaks volumes of the service that we do for our families."
A community of caring.
"Because I'm so high risk, I can't be away from the hospital. They wanted to do in-patient but couldn't work that out so thank goodness the American Cancer Society has the Hope Lodge," Zurenko said. "The rooms are beautiful. They cater to the patient. They're wonderful. It's clean, a nice environment when you're sick. I'm very thankful."
Guests at Hope Lodge also receive free transportation to medical centers in the Baltimore area. The facility was opened in 1987 and was built on land donated by the University of Maryland.