Temporary Home For Cancer Patients Gets Green Light In Swarthmore
SWARTHMORE, Pa. (CBS) -- A seven-bedroom home in Swarthmore, Delaware County will be converted to a temporary home for cancer patients after getting the okay from borough council.
Nick's House is named for Nick Colleluori. Ten years ago, the freshman lacrosse player's dying wish after a battle with non-hodgkins lymphoma was a foundation to make it easier on cancer patients and their families.
"We actually met a family who had been staying in their car because they were out of money," said Cheryl Colleluori, Nick's mother and president of HEADstrong foundation, named for her son's nickname.
"We thought to ourselves that if we ever had the opportunity to offer a home-like setting to those families that travel to Philadelphia that we would."
They opened a home offering two rooms in Ridley five years ago, but it's not wheelchair accessible. The home in Swarthmore will have space for seven patients and one caregiver for each.
The home will be made available to anyone dealing with cancer who has to travel more than 50-miles to hospitals in the greater Philadelphia area.
Colleluori says families told them they would prefer the home be outside of the city. And they wanted to be close to hospitals, walking distance to a train line, and the airport.
How long patients stay in the home would vary. For example, she says, bone marrow transplant patients need to stay within 15 miles of the hospital for 100 days, post-transplant.
There was some pushback from neighbors, but Collelouri says she looks forward to winning them over once the home opens.
Click here for more information on the home and on the HEADstrong foundation.
