When a child is struck with a major illness it rocks the world of the entire family. Where normalcy once reigned, fear and uncertainty set in. At our past Spring Barn Sale, a shopper told me about an organization that he has worked with called Designing 4 Hope. As the name suggests, this organization redesigns the child’s bedroom creating a place for them to” rest, recover, heal and dream.” They create an environment designed around the child that helps them to forget about needles, hospitals and their treatments. Once they accomplish this, they take on the rooms of the siblings, who are often lost in the shuffle of the care that is required for their brother or sister.

When I heard about this organization, it really struck a chord. For as many of you know who follow this little blog, our son Shane has been dealing with an obscure syndrome that took him from being a healthy athletic teenager who competed on his school’s football and wrestling teams his Freshman year to a teenager who could no longer compete athletically let alone stay up for more that a few hours at a time. When he was diagnosed with POTs (Postural orthostatic tachycardia) it was a relief to hear a name to what was causing his health problems. Now that we had a name and knew what we were dealing with, we could tackle it. Three years later, he is still dealing with it and even though we hear that there is an end…it is not in sight and it might be a couple more years until he can regain any sense of normalcy.

After the sale was over, I had time to look up Designing 4 hope and I felt an immediate connection to what they do. Shane’s illness does not make him critically ill, it has not required numerous surgeries with prolonged hospital stays. It is a life altering illness and one that causes Shane to be on numerous medications and to spend inordinate amounts of time in his bedroom, either sleeping or just laying down because he feels a heck of lot better when he is in the “postural” position due to the poor circulation issues. I immediately thought of the kids whose lives were being altered and who were coming home from a long hospital stay and were confined to their beds for days and sometimes weeks on end. How great would it be to make a place that was beautiful for them to rest, relax and heal in? A place that if they were confined there, was a place of optimism, light and beauty. Often times a critically ill child causes hardships in the financial arena as well as all the other areas that it affects and there are no funds to put towards creating that space. This is where Designing 4 Hope comes in. 

I reached out to Lori McHale who started Designing 4 Hope and after meeting with her and her husband, how could one not be inspired by what they do there? We are looking forward to partnering with them for our Summer Sale to try and raise both awareness and funds to continue their mission of Hope. Stay tuned to the details but we will be having a kick off party to benefit Designing 4 Hope on June 13th. Put it on your calendar so you can join us in making their mission fruitful!