A Welcoming Home for The Weary

Patty Holloway never considered herself a fan of long commutes.

As she battled lung cancer, the short 5-mile distance between her townhome and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center felt like a small blessing. Even still, some days, Patty could barely make it home without becoming sick after a chemotherapy treatment.

“I’m so thankful that I live in Houston,” Patty said.

Patty’s daughter Jane Nodskov knew the road from the townhome to the Cancer Center well as she drove back and forth, caring for her mother. In 2011, Patty passed away, having fought cancer for a year. After her death, Jane began to dream of a way her mother’s home could become a gift to others. Today, Patty’s townhome has become a place of rest for people in need.

Jane stands in the summer heat outside the townhome, holding a box of cookies and a large cup of Chick-fil-A iced tea. A young woman named Taylor Diercks cheerfully opens the door and welcomes her. Jane steps inside to the living room and sits on the edge of an ottoman, chatting with Taylor about her latest update from the doctor.

Taylor and her husband, Cory Diercks, moved from Alabama so Taylor could receive treatment for leukemia at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. They were blessed with a temporary place to stay at Patty’s former home.

Jane and her husband, Keith, started a ministry, which they named Houston Haven, in 2019 to provide housing for those in need who are on medical journeys. The ministry has since partnered with a similar organization called Suites of Hope and expanded to eight residences in total, including apartments and houses in close proximity to the Texas Medical Center.

Houston Haven opens doors for people to extend and receive comfort. And God brings compassion to their experiences through friendship and practical care.

Laying the foundation

In 2019, Jane and Keith joined their friends Mike and Jenny Moore at an Astros baseball game. Mike and Jenny serve with Embark, the city ministry of Cru® for young professionals, which Jane got involved with in her 20s.

At the game, Jane and Jenny chatted about Jane’s mom’s home. Jane opened up about her desire to offer it as short-term housing for people receiving cancer treatment.

“Well, why don’t you do it?” Jenny asked.

The idea seemed daunting. At the time Jane and Keith had a young child and full-time jobs. Keith works as a risk manager, and Jane uses her organizational and people skills in commercial real estate. Spontaneously launching a non-profit company felt far from their home base.

But the couple sensed God leading them to take the leap, and with Jenny and Mike’s help, they began to build the ministry. Jane now balances three jobs: caring for her family, working in real estate and serving with Houston Haven.

Mike and Jenny serve on the board of directors for Houston Haven, furthering the ministry’s mission of meeting people’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs in trying times. Other friends and acquaintances have rallied around the vision as well.

Karen Campbell works part time for Houston Haven and coordinates the logistics of the ministry, answering emails, taking phone calls and keeping up with families. She first heard about Houston Haven through her involvement with Cru City. Young professionals involved in Cru City have volunteered by working on the homes where needed. Some young women also committed to bring meals for guests during the pandemic.

Most individuals and families move to Houston unfamiliar with the city. Because of MD Anderson’s reputation, patients travel from all over the world to receive treatment. The hospital is ranked number one for cancer care in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

Rest in chaos

Houston Haven guests begin a new season when they pack their bags and head to Texas. The ministry houses families for up to three months at properties ranging from $25 to $35 a day. Finding an apartment in the city poses an overwhelming challenge, and Taylor and her husband, Cory, grew familiar with absurdly steep hotel costs. Houston Haven also helps with the burden of meals, as volunteers deliver home-cooked food and takeout meals once a week.

As Taylor talks with Jane, she sings the culinary praises of a volunteer named Jill, who brought over beef stew and biscuits, blueberry cobbler and cookies.

“We’ve been blessed the whole way,” Taylor says.

Taylor first heard the word “leukemia” as a diagnosis shortly before giving birth to her daughter in 2018. She buckled in for a roller coaster of unknowns. Doctors told her she couldn’t hold her baby girl for seven days because radiation from chemotherapy could transfer.

Cory describes their journey as chaotic, with ups and downs. Still, he reflects on gratitude and wanting to take notice of people in a different way. When he bumps into someone having a bad day, he says he knows what it’s like to endure the worst of times.

Compassion in community

The day after visiting Taylor, Jane drives her SUV to Marshalls department store to pick up personal care items for a guest in the hospital with an infection. Jane wondered if the young woman might feel bored as she sat in the hospital room, where one night turned into 10 as doctors searched for the cause of the infection.

“It’s a lot more emotionally tolling than I thought it would be,” Jane says. “You’re invested in people and you know their stories; you know about their family and you know what they’ve been through.”

Bonds form as guests interact with volunteers. Houston Haven’s “ambassadors” keep in touch with families each week to hear how they’re doing, ask for prayer requests and engage in deeper spiritual conversations when the opportunity arises. Jane believes that moments for “the greatest witnessing” happen in the context of relationships through which people see gestures of love that reveal God’s character.

“I’m praying that some of these families … maybe not right now, but maybe down the road, they’ll realize there was something different about that Houston Haven ministry,” Mike Moore says.

Faith in a new challenge

Jane waits outside another home, this time in an apartment building. The door swings open and a woman dressed in pink, from her mask to her blouse, greets Jane. Inside, a black sign on the kitchen counter reads, “Houston Haven Welcomes Rachel.”

Rachel Vazquez shows Jane a sticky trap for bugs, and they talk about the smoke detector. With the little apartment details covered, the women dive deeper into conversation on the couch. Six weeks have passed since Rachel moved in while receiving treatment for breast cancer at MD Anderson.

Rachel has always been an advocate of women with breast cancer, working as a mammographer while she served in the Navy. Then a scan showed her own tumor. She traveled from Virginia, where she retired from the Navy after completing 20 years of honorable service. She didn’t know where she would stay, but Houston Haven stepped in.

“They answered a prayer and took my worries away,” Rachel says.

As a mom to a 12-year-old daughter, occupying the position of receiving care clashes with Rachel’s normal way of life. Tears well up in her eyes as she describes the feeling.

“I’m just used to doing and making it better for everyone else, but not for me,” Rachel says.

The meals Rachel received from a volunteer named Tori struck her as unnecessary; they felt like too much. But Jane assures her that Tori wanted to help.

“You’re blessing us by letting us do that for you. It brings us so much joy to do that,” Jane says.

Rachel more comfortably gives that kind of love to others. She pulls a small book of prayers out of her purse, one provided for her from Houston Haven, and tells Jane what it has meant to her. When she’s at the hospital, Rachel opens the book and sometimes reads the prayers with other women in the waiting room. Her eyes stay open to the people around her, and Rachel’s prayers manifest care.

Comfort in prayer

Houston Haven ambassadors demonstrate concern and spiritual support by checking in and letting families know they’re praying for them.

According to the National Cancer Institute and cited studies, “spiritual well-being, particularly a sense of meaning and peace, is significantly associated with an ability of cancer patients to continue to enjoy life despite high levels of pain or fatigue.”

The Houston Haven application includes the question, “How can we pray for you?”

Volunteer Karen Campbell reads the answers while she works and notices what happens when she asks people in person. The question about prayer opens a window into people’s experiences — and leads to getting to know someone more.

Karen has also discovered that prayer helps her reflect on the greatness of God.

“We pray for a successful transplant; we pray for a successful surgery and chemo,” Karen says. “But I think [working with Houston Haven] has also made me reevaluate and remind myself that I can ask God for really big things, and I can trust Him to answer them how He wants to answer them.”

Houston Haven continues its support because of the prayers and help of people who want to be part of bringing comfort to others.

“We are on the ground floor of something that is growing,” Keith told a group of Houston Haven board members, “thanks to God and what He is doing and the people He is using to move this ministry.”