Philanthropists and children gathered Wednesday afternoon on a narrow street in Canton to open a new long-term home for children who need bone marrow transplants and their families.
The Children?s House at St. Casimir, with its brightly colored pastel facade and overstuffed couches inside, is the fifth home in the region that will provide children and their families a place to stay during lengthy hospital treatments, said Brian Morrison, founder of Believe in Tomorrow National Children?s Foundation. The latest home, however, is the first in the nation to exclusively target pediatric bone marrow patients.
Bone marrow transplant patients typically receive treatment for 60 to 120 days, officials said, and the Canton home will give families access to Baltimore?s waterfront, restaurants and shops, plus renowned medicine.
“It provides normalcy for families that are going through things that are anything but normal,” Morrison said. “They can go walk around the waterfront, eat out at a restaurant, go shop at Safeway.”
The foundation acquired the building, which occupies the space of four former row homes converted into a convent, from the Archdiocese of Baltimore and extensively renovated it. The home now can accommodate as many as eight families at one time in separate apartments ? with special food storage systems and bathrooms to keep the children as healthy as possible. Officials said they expect 9,000 people to move in throughout the course of a year.
The home is the collaboration of many local businesses and donors, officials said, particularly Erickson Construction, who developed the site. St. Casimir is also opening its parish school to children living in the homes. Dr. Robert Arceci, director of pediatric oncology at Johns Hopkins, said the facilities prevent families from having to buy second homes and have emotional benefits.
“Their families will get together and bond over what is happening to them,” Arceci said. “This really is love in action.”
Believe in Tomorrow also has retreat centers and homes near Johns Hopkins, in the Allegheny Mountains, in Fenwick Island, Del., and Ocean City.
