Hope Suite Hope, formerly HopkINNS Helps, was created after a conversation I had with a pancreatic cancer patient named David Sokoloff. David had a successful Whipple surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and was doing great until sadly, the cancer returned with a vengeance. David’s hope for survival was a trial that Hopkins was running, which required him to fly to Baltimore from Florida approximately every three weeks and stay in a hotel for days at a time with his caretaker. The hotel next to the hospital was offered at a reduced Johns Hopkins patient rate, but still somewhat expensive. Through a Southwest Airlines grant, David had his flights paid for, however his hotel bills were adding up each month, making an already stressful situation harder.

Lisa’s Hope Suite Hope is a fund, overseen by the Nikki Mitchell Foundation, that provides lodging to patients and families in need of long-term, world-class treatment. Without this lodging, many patients are forced to seek help at local hospitals by medical staff that are unfamiliar with pancreatic cancer. As a result, the outcomes are not nearly as good. Since its inception in May 2018, we have sent many patients, numerous times to comfortable hotels to ease the burden and anxiety of their situation. Our goal is to continue to work in tandem with the Nikki Mitchell Foundation, to help reduce some of the financial stress associated with pancreatic cancer."

Written by Lisa Eidelberg, Founder of Hope Suite Hope