When 7-year-old Kristen Lusk of Visalia, Calif., was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer in March 2006, her family was told the best treatment was in San Francisco -- about 230 miles away.
In addition to their concerns for their daughter, the family was worried about where they were going to stay during the treatment.
"The cancer needed extensive chemotherapy and caused her to lose her left leg. ... You're talking lots of nights spent in San Francisco. We just would not have been able to afford that," said Carol Lusk, Kristen's mother.
Coming to the Lusks' rescue was Francisco's Family House, a non-profit guesthouse offering free lodging to families of seriously ill children traveling more than 50 miles for medical care who demonstrate financial need.
"It's been a blessing," said Carol Lusk, who returns there periodically with Kristen, whose cancer is in remission, for ongoing care.
Three years later, Family House and programs like it across the country are struggling to stay viable. Marchelle Sellers, a board member of the National Association of Hospital Hospitality Houses, says donations for member houses nationwide are down an estimated 35%.
Clara Carrier, a spokeswoman for Ronald McDonald House Charities, said that though numbers on year-to-date changes in donations are not yet available, "we have been unable to accept people at some of our houses because we are at capacity. ... We've encouraged local chapters to be more creative and increase their reliance on volunteer outreach."
Jim Weiskopf, vice president of communications at Fisher House, a private non-profit organization that builds temporary medical housing facilities for injured veterans and their families and donates them to the government, says donations are down 30% this year and that plans have stalled on 12 houses that are "a significant need."
Many guesthouse waiting lists are so long that house managers have arranged discounted rates at local hotels for families they must turn away, Sellers said.
Family House saw a 15% drop in donations last year and the trend has continued, CEO Alexandra Morgan said.
"We are sticking people on Aerobeds," Morgan said. "We're putting them in little rooms that aren't bedrooms. We say move over, you're gonna share a room with someone else."
Morgan said she fears the situation will worsen in 2010.
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