State of Cancer: Hope Lodge eases pain and cost of cancer
Hundreds of pins dot a map in the hallway at Hope Lodge in Iowa City.
They show the different places its residents – cancer patients and their caregivers — come from.
The homey spot started by the American Cancer Society opened here in 2008. It has provided hundreds with a safe place to stay as they receive treatment in Iowa at no cost.
Kathy Lefrenz has been married to the love of her life for 45 years.
She stays at Hope Lodge while her husband has been undergoing treatment this spring for acute leukemia.
“It’s probably been the worst rollercoaster I’ve ever been on,” she said. “I’ve been up; I’ve been down. We’ve almost lost him twice.”
Within 24 hours of the diagnosis, Lafrenz said they were in Iowa City for treatment.
There was so much to worry about, except for where she would stay.
“I could get really teary-eyed about this, but they’ve been right here,” she said. She learned about the place through a hospital social worker.
The setup helps her stay close. Hope Lodge is on campus near the University of Iowa Hospitals campus. It provides free lodging in its 28 rooms, access to laundry, and a pantry and kitchen stocked with food. There’s also transportation to treatment.
"This has probably been the best thing that's happened to us,” Lafrenz said.
vlog spoke to Lafrenz in late April at the same time Mark Barker was getting settled.
Barker, battling prostate cancer, is from Upper Michigan.
“The priority is treatment,” he said.
His daughter and her family live in Iowa City.
"So, she says, ‘Dad, my son plays on a baseball team with a specialist in that thing. Why don't you come down here?’" Barker recounted.
He did.
The doctor told Barker his cancer was more aggressive than doctors closer to home believed it to be.
"And they said we're going to have to treat this with radiation, and it's a months-long procedure. And, if you do this here, there is a place that you can stay during your treatment," Barker said.
All he had to do was say yes.
"I think it changes it from something that would be pretty scary, to something that, okay, well, we'll do it. Things will be fine at the end." He said.
All 32 Hope Lodges across the country are 100 percent donor-funded.
Jenna Maxson serves as the general manager for Hope Lodge. The benefit of the lodges is clear: Friendships and the cost savings.
The ACS reports that's more than $55 million a year in hotel expenses alone for patients and caregivers.
Maxson, a two-time cancer survivor herself, believes that's just part of the value.
"So I was that cancer patient where if you said, ‘Are you OK? I'd say, ‘Yes, I'm good, I'm fine. I've got it. No worries,’” she said. “I wasn't always. It's so mentally taxing."
Residents are patients and caregivers older than 18 who live more than 40 miles away from their treatment center can stay.
Maxson says they are almost always at capacity.
But they do have additional options to help guests who need a place to stay.
Iowa City Hope Lodge Website: