From left: Nina, Tiffany, Dina and Donel D'cruze outside of Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College in Hanover. After her husband died after two-year battle with Leukemia last November, Nina D'cruze started a nonprofit organization called Donel's House of Hope with the goal of purchasing a home where families whose loved ones are getting cancer treatment at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center can stay. (Courtesy photograph)
From left: Nina, Tiffany, Dina and Donel D'cruze outside of Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College in Hanover. After her husband died after two-year battle with Leukemia last November, Nina D'cruze started a nonprofit organization called Donel's House of Hope with the goal of purchasing a home where families whose loved ones are getting cancer treatment at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center can stay. (Courtesy photograph) Credit: Courtesy photograph

Lebanon — When Nina D’cruze’s husband, Donel, was battling Leukemia, she drew strength from others who were going through the same thing with their loved ones at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

“Cancer creates a family of its own,” D’cruze said. “The hope that you get from a person who is walking this journey is amazing.”

A Lebanon resident, D’cruze was able to rush to Donel’s side whenever he needed her.

“I could be there within 5 minutes,” she recalled.

She was also able to go home to check in with the couple’s two daughters, shower or to cook some of Donel’s favorite dishes to bring to him. “It’s something I could provide him with,” she said.

But D’cruze realized that not many families had the option of being that close by. She talked to family members of other patients who would have to leave their homes in the early morning hours to get to the hospital. Many make these trips for an extended period of time, and struggle to both find and afford a place to stay close to DHMC.

After two years fighting Leukemia, Donel died in November at age 53. To honor his legacy — as well as to support other families who are fighting cancer — D’cruze founded a nonprofit organization with the ultimate goal of purchasing a home for families to stay at while loved ones are being treated at DHMC. It would be modeled after David’s House, a residence for families whose children are being treated at Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth.

“I want to try,” D’cruze said. “I want to try for people who were not as lucky as me.”

Donel’s House of Hope will hold a 5K Memorial Walk from 9:30 a.m.-noon on Sunday on the Northern Rail Trail near the CCBA in Lebanon. Participants are asked to wear green T-shirts, because green was Donel’s favorite color. The money raised will go toward DHMC’s Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Survivors Day. Donel was a bone marrow recipient.

“I just want to take a chance in this Upper Valley community,” D’cruze said. “This house is our vision to support people who are broken on the same level and lift each other up with the same amount of hope.”

D’cruze envisions the home as being a place where people can stay when their family members are undergoing cancer treatment without worrying about how “to juggle finances along with dealing with the devastation of this disease,” she said. “It could be such a healing place for people who are going through this journey.”

While the organization is still a ways off from purchasing a home, D’cruze has already received support from DHMC and the greater community.

“I cannot forget the love that my family and I got from every provider,” D’cruze said. “You cannot go through this journey without love.”

Editor’s note: For more information about Donel’s House of Hope, visit https://www.facebook.com/dcruze4/ or email D’cruze at dcruznina@hotmail.com. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.