Introduction
Karen's House of Hope is a lovely home conveniently located near the Cancer Care Center of Southeast Georgia Health System. It offers two comfortable bedrooms for out of town patients who are receiving chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments. Lodging is provided at no cost to the patient due to the generosity of people like you! Some of our guests stay with us as long as 7 weeks while undergoing their treatments. Others may stay for only a day or two.
When available, we also offer free lodging to families of persons who are visiting our area due to a loved one being a patient in one of the Health System's Intensive Care Units.
Why Is it Called Karen's House of Hope?
Karen Milburn was a greatly loved parapro with the Glynn County School System who was in need of an experimental bone marrow treatment at M.D. Anderson in the early 1990's. Originally, her insurance company refused to pay for treatment, so her church, her co-workers, and her friends rolled up their sleeves to raise funds for Karen and her family. Over $70,000 was raised before the insurance company reversed its decision and decided to pay for the treatment. Some of the funds were used to pay for housing, travel, and other expenses not covered by the insurance, but the bulk of the funds stayed in a bank account waiting for a meaningful use. These funds were used to purchase this house being used by FaithWorks' Cancer Network of Hope.
While the bone marrow treatment was not successful for Karen, lessons learned from Karen's treatment have benefited others who have come after her. The house is named for Karen to honor her for her courage to fight and to celebrate the community spirit which stretched itself to care for one of its own.
For More Information
Contact Debbie at debbie@faithworksministry.org
