Joyce and Allen

When Traditions go by the Wayside

For years, Allen and his wife Joyce spent weekend mornings having coffee on their Atlanta front porch.

Then two doctors told Allen to get used to the feeding tube protruding from his belly. He’d never eat or drink real food again after the chemo and radiation for head and throat cancer closed his esophagus.

Valued traditions like coffee on the porch went by the wayside.

Thankfully, Allen and Joyce found a doctor in Winston-Salem who could help. A hospital shuttle driver recommended that they move from an expensive hotel to the SECU Family House.

When they first heard about the house, they were leery. With all the serious illness around, they expected a depressed, gloomy, tense atmosphere.

Their experience was quite the opposite.

Today, they know first–hand that your generosity makes the Family House a warm, welcoming oasis.

A support group recommended that Allen keep or start new traditions while going through treatment. So to restore normalcy, Allen and Joyce started their morning coffee routine again, although he had to pour the coffee into his feeding tube. Your past support created a safe place to do that.

Allen ate his first real meal in nine months at the Family House! An incredible moment that he will never forget! A moment that YOU made possible!

He still remembers what the volunteer group served for dinner – a bowl of beef stew. A photo of that moment stays on his refrigerator door as a constant reminder. Even though at first, a food’s texture, spiciness, and taste limited what Allen could eat, the volunteer service groups who made a variety of dinners accommodated his needs and made him feel at home.

Today, like many other cancer patients, Allen and Joyce continue to travel to Winston-Salem for follow-up appointments.

They aren’t leery of staying at the Family House anymore; they know it will feel like coming home.

Because of people like you, families like yours find our “home” a place they can call their own.