FEATURE
FEATURE
Steen, Horner families support
home-away-from-home for
cancer patients
The A merican Cancer Societ y
selected Baylor University Medical Center
at Dallas as the location of its newest Hope
Lodge, a home-like facility that offers free
accommodations for cancer patients who
have to travel long distances for their care.
Baylor Scott & White Health, which owns
the land on which the facility will be built,
is donating its use pursuant to a ground lease
agreement to the American Cancer Society.
Although Hope Lodge Dallas will be built
on a 1.5-acre plot of land southwest of Baylor
Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center,
patients staying at the lodge can receive cancer care from any health care provider in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area. Baylor Health Care
System Foundation is grateful for two recent
gifts that will help bring the vision of Hope
Lodge Dallas to reality.
These two gifts — $5 million from the
Don and Trudy Steen Charitable
Foundation and $1.25 million from the
Horner Family — are instrumental to
Hope Lodge Dallas, which will be 100 percent supported by philanthropy. For both
of the families, the gifts are personal and
representative of a long history of giving to
Baylor.
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“My parents believed that true success is never measured by
money or the material things we have. It is measured by the
lives we have enriched and the people we have served, never
expecting anything in return,”
– Tim Horner
Don Steen, who died of a form of leukemia in 2014, was a longtime supporter of
the Baylor Foundation. During his illness,
he and his wife, Trudy, noticed many cancer patients who struggled with taking care
of their families while commuting long distances to receive medical care.
“People sometimes have to give up their
jobs, or leave their children behind with
grandparents while they’re going through
treatment,” Trudy said. “It’s bad enough to
have to go through cancer. If they have to
worry about finding a place to stay, parking at a hospital or getting meals — it can
be a real struggle.”
When Trudy learned of the plans for
Hope Lodge Dallas, she decided that contributing to it would be a way to honor Don,
who founded United Surgical Partners
International Inc. (USPI), a short-stay surgical facility company. “I think Hope Lodge
will be a wonderful space where cancer
patients can feel comfortable and concentrate on getting better,” Trudy said.
Several of Don’s friends are supporting
the effort, through the Friends of Don
Steen Campaign. Among them are Bill
Wilcox, CEO of USPI, and Ken Newman,
a close personal friend of Don’s. “We were
both deeply touched and honored to be
asked by Trudy to make remarks at Don’s
memorial service,” they stated in a letter
that was sent to friends of the Steen family.
“We’re both now honored to support this
project in his memory.”
Trudy said the timing of this gift is perfect. “We wanted to do something to contribute to Baylor, and we learned that they