A non-profit housing initiative that provides housing solutions to cancer patients.

There I stood sobbing and Maura appeared. And that has been the story of my life. Maura appears for the good, bad, and ugly times.

“Your sister is here.” I don’t have a sister. I have two brothers. I was critically ill, near death with a diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia and horrible blood counts. My husband Tim and I had just driven two hours to Mayo Clinic after leaving the hospital in Eau Claire. No one knew we were here, but there Maura stood, in the lobby of one of the most famous hospitals in the world.

“I told them I was your sister, so just go with it.” I needed her. My husband needed her. We were a mess. Leukemia. We had no clue the journey we were embarking on. 8 months of care in Rochester. Three kids at home, chemo, a husband that needed to work, and bone marrow biopsies consumed my thoughts but the need for outpatient housing in Rochester was by far my biggest burden. Maura to the rescue. She secured us housing but at $3000 a month it became overwhelming financially and we spent our last two months in a private home where the Osetrich family opened their hearts and home to my caregivers and me.

So with my cancer in remission, a successful stem cell transplant, and understanding the enormous need of ordinary patients, Maura and I created Home4Healing. Housing is the number ONE need besides medical care for blood cancer and stem cell transplant patients. 

but really it has been since that first day of college when my mom dropped me off, hugged me, and drove away and left me crying on a sidewalk at the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire.

It seems like Maura and I have been friends forever