12-year-old survivor opens house in Durham to assist households touring for pediatric most cancers care :: WRAL.com

After spending almost two and a half years out and in of Duke Children’s Hospital, 12-year-old Harper Harrell is discovering a strategy to give again to households in related conditions.

Harper and her mom, Heather Hindin created Harper’s Home, a non-profit group that gives inexpensive housing to households who journey greater than 40 miles to entry medical care at Duke Children’s Hospital.

“We live less than two miles from Duke Children’s and we realized pretty quickly during treatment how fortunate we were to live in such close proximity to such an amazing hospital,” Hindin mentioned.

Many households she met should not that fortunate. In 2024 alone, greater than 2,400 households traveled over 40 miles for care at Duke Children’s Hospital. On common, they spent 12 days within the hospital.

For kids with most cancers, being near the hospital may be life-saving. In most cancers sufferers, particularly kids, their white blood cell rely can drop quickly and unexpectedly. When this occurs there’s a 60-minute window to deal with sufferers earlier than they might probably change into septic. This window is named the ‘the golden hour’.

Harper is aware of that battle first-hand. She was recognized with leukemia in October of 2021. At that point her mom, Heather labored on the Emily Ok. Center, an academic heart in Durham that was co-founded by Duke University’s Head Coach, Michael Krzyzewski, also called “Coach K”.

 “The day I was diagnosed, he called my mom and was like, is there anything we can do to help, like anything”, Harrel mentioned. “And a few hours later the head of the hospital was there because he knew them.”

Since then the household has raised 1000’s for the inspiration. They donated $27,000 from promoting t-shirts they designed with slogans saying Peace out Cancer, Brave like Harper.

In Feb. 2024 she rang the bell, signifying the tip of remedy. She is engaged on reaching her second 12 months in remission.

This undertaking is made doable by a number of non-public donors, federal grants and native tradespeople donating their time.

While there’s a steered donation of nightly charges, lodging can be found to all on a sliding scale.

The mom and daughter mentioned what introduced them peace throughout that point was with the ability to come house, lay with their canines and sleep in their very own beds.“We wanted to be able to give other families the opportunity to feel that same level of comfort, coziness, belonging, and safety through Harper’s Home,” mentioned Hindin.

And for Harper, making the properties dog-friendly was a non-negotiable.

“Being with our dogs and having our own place to come home to was so special, and it meant everything to us. So I can only assume it means as much to them,” Harper mentioned.

There are at the moment eight models open within the Duke Homestead space, with plans for extra properties within the Northgate Park neighborhood. Hindin will meet with the City of Durham in November to finalize constructing plans.

Harper has a message for households who will quickly name Harper’s Home their very own:

“It’s not your fault that this happened. It’s not something you can help, especially cancer. It’s not something you did,” Harrell mentioned. “There is always going to be someone who is going to be there for you. – you might just need to find the right people. We are so proud of you and excited for you to be staying at Harper’s Home.”