A house is a home for cancer families

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this story had a quote that said UNC Hospitals does not provide adequate housing support for its patients. N.C. Children’s Hospital’s 64-bed inpatient unit features private patient rooms, each equipped with a private bathroom and foldout bed that enables parents to stay with their child. The hospital also has a limited number of family sleep rooms for parents of children in the intensive care unit.

In the four years that 6-year-old Cooper Herman has battled pediatric brain cancer, his family has moved to three different places so he could get specialized treatment.

His dad, Justin Herman, said each move required his family to stay in cities far from their Chapel Hill home for an extended period of time, which cost a lot of money.

“Luckily for us, I have a good job and insurance,” Justin Herman said. “We even had friends in one city who gave us a place to stay.”

But he said many families aren’t so lucky.

“For a lot of people, it is much harder, which is why we want to help them out,” he said. “Most patients receive treatment every day for several weeks or even several months, but they don’t have a place to stay at night.”

To help other families out, the Hermans established a two-bedroom, two-bathroom town house for families of children receiving treatment for pediatric brain cancer at UNC Hospitals.

The Super ReCOOPERation House opened last week in Southern Village in honor of Cooper, who has received radiation three times and is currently undergoing chemotherapy at UNC Hospitals.

“He is hanging tough,” Justin Herman said.

He said they want the town house to serve as a home away from home for these families.

Greene said the biggest goal of the new town house is to provide support for the families of those receiving treatment.

The Hermans wanted to open the house because they had received so much from their community.

“It killed them that other families were living in the waiting room while they had so much support from their community,” Greene said.

Justin Herman said the home is fully furnished and includes basic living essentials. He said they also want to provide food for families who are financially challenged.

“We are working with supporters in Southern Village and others around us to provide them with meals,” he said. “People in the community will sign up to provide meals.”

He said it costs about $2,000 to operate the house each month. All of that money comes from donations to Super Cooper’s Little Red Wagon Foundation.

The foundation raises most of its money through an annual race called Super Cooper’s Rockin’ Run, which takes place in Southern Village.

The foundation was started when Cooper was diagnosed.

“We were looking for a way to make sense of it and show our support,” said Jennifer Thompson, another friend of the Hermans who is also involved with the family’s charity. “The foundation has continued to evolve, but it has been pretty amazing to see what a community can do.”

The foundation has raised more than $150,000 during the past three years.

Thompson said it has given the community a way to help the Hermans during a difficult time.

“In a hopeless situation, people have found purpose and a way to find meaning in it all,” Thompson said.

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