CHASE AWAY the CLOUDS

Adult cancer patients traveling to the Treasure Valley for cancer treatment need a safe, secure and comforting "home away from home" conveniently located near Saint Alphonsus Cancer Treatment Center and St. Luke's Cancer Center in Nampa, Idaho.

Chase Away the Clouds has located an eight bedroom facility at 601 W. Blaine Avenue in Nampa, ID. We need everyone who has been touched by cancer to help. If you have survived, known, loved, lost or are fighting cancer now we hope you will help get even with cancer by helping others live!

Your donation in any amount is valued and appreciated.

THE WHY

There isn't a day that goes by that a newspaper's local obituary doesn't have a notice of someone who had their life taken away by cancer. It is still the big "C" word that brings thoughts of our own mortality to even the bravest of us.

According to Government figures for 2014 cancer is the leading cause of death in 22 states. Sadly, Idaho is included in this recent statistic.

Present statistics indicate 1 out of 3 people will have cancer during their lifetime. Based on current trends, 40% of children born today will have cancer at some point during their lifetime. Unfortunately, cancer is not going away.

In Idaho, 538,000 (1/3 of the population) out of 1.6 million people live in small towns and rural areas. When faced with a cancer diagnosis, treatment is either limited or nonexistent requiring patients to travel back and forth daily anywhere from 25 to 100 miles, one way, or paying for expensive overnight accommodations in a city that offers chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment. For some this added expense and stress is another cloud hanging over them, causing others to forgo treatment altogether! 

At the same time cancer patients are faced with this life threatening illness, life goes on and monthly expenses are due, not to mention the added burden of medical bills and the cost for overnight accommodations and food while receiving treatment away from home. On the average cancer patients undergoing daily radiation therapy will receive 25 to 35 treatments over five to seven weeks.

During this most difficult time in a person's life, receiving the best possible treatment and having a loved one/caretaker with them is most important for emotional support. It is also beneficial for patients to form a human support network in addition to removing the financial cloud hanging over them for temporary housing.

The Boise-Nampa area provides the best possible care for cancer patients with state of the art technology and the most advanced cancer treatment options available in our state. Nampa provides a small town atmosphere where people coming from rural areas can feel comfortable.

Please see the map below showing the states that maintain American Cancer Society Hope Lodges. There are presently 32 lodges, with the closest one in Salt Lake City, Utah. Please note that there are no lodges basically west of Mississippi River area and the American Cancer Society does not have any plans of building one in Idaho in the near future. Like other cities and towns, people pitched in together to make a home possible.

If we build it...they will come!

WHO WE ARE

Chase Away the Clouds, Inc. was organized by cancer survivors and doctors who know first hand the stress and difficulty of obtaining treatment for adult patients who live in rural areas who no longer qualify to stay at a Ronald McDonald Home for children to age 18.

Chase Away the Clouds received its 501(c)(3) on March 17, 2013. The Board of Directors and volunteers are eager to involve the citizens of Idaho with helping their neighbors by providing cost-free temporary housing for adult cancer patients (age 21 and older) who need to travel twenty-five miles or more to the Treasure Valley for cancer treatment. The "home away from home" will be similar to a Ronald McDonald House for children to age twenty-one and the American Cancer Society - Hope Lodges for adults.

The need for cost-free temporary housing during cancer care for Idahoans and residents of eastern Oregon who need to travel away from home for life saving treatment is enormous! We have talked with social workers from Saint Alphonsus Medical Center and St. Luke's in Nampa and Boise. They are able to assist patients with credit cards for gasoline but the amount is limited and there isn't enough for everyone. They feel that so much more is needed and are eager to refer patients once Chase Away the Clouds can provide no cost temporary housing for cancer patients.