It's hard to take a vacation from leukemia, but for a precious week in Ocean City, 7-year-old Tomas Nichols and his family did their best.
Their respite might not have been as loud and adventure-filled as that of other families - they spent much of their time relaxing on a beach house deck - but for them, it was a thrill just to be in a different, peaceful place. The gift of time away came from a Baltimore-based foundation, which provided the beach house for free.
"The kids are having fun; we have absolutely nothing to do," Paul Nichols, whose son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia about two years ago, said during the family's recent beach visit. "We're still doing the medication, all the chemo he takes, but it's in a completely different environment."
The Nicholses, from Stafford, Va., are among the families of critically ill children who have taken advantage of the Ocean City-area properties owned by Believe in Tomorrow. The foundation was one of the first charities in the country, its founder says, to establish permanent vacation homes that offer families enduring the strain of a child's illness the simple gift of an inviting change of scene.
Tomas, a second-grader who enjoys soccer, reading and the Transformers action series, got a chance to slither down a water slide and steer a Coast Guard cutter during his vacation week. His leukemia has been in remission, and he is now undergoing a long-term treatment program. His father, a retired Marine, says the family heard about Believe in Tomorrow last year while Tomas was being treated at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Nationwide, there are not many places like Believe in Tomorrow's residences. Facilities such as the George Mark House in San Leandro, Calif., provide respite housing and palliative care for terminally ill children. That might be why the local foundation's Ocean City properties have housed families from as far away as California, Colorado and Oklahoma. Word about its efforts spreads through medical facilities such as Walter Reed, and now each of the properties is filled year-round.
The Nichols family spent Fourth of July week at the foundation's single-family House on the Bay, which overlooks Assawoman Bay. Believe in Tomorrow gives priority to military families who want to stay at the property. Donated last year by an Ocean City area resident who once served in the Army, the beach house was appraised at $627,000 in 2007.
