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New group provides beautiful places to recover

My Happy Haven supports women with cancer

Perhaps the scariest words a person can hear from their doctor are ”you have cancer.” For the patient, what follows that diagnosis is a whirlwind of physical illness and emotional anguish that only a person who has survived it can properly describe.

Fortunately, there is hope and support for those patients. Thanks to modern medicine, cancers that were once automatic death sentences are now treatable and even curable. And there are many organizations working to support the emotional, spiritual and other needs of cancer patients.

One of the newest of those groups in Fort Dodge recently made its presence known in a major way.

The Fort Dodge affiliate of My Happy Haven remodels the bedrooms of women suffering from cancer. It relies on donations and volunteers to produce sweeping transformations of bedrooms that might not have been changed in decades.

The latest bedroom makeover was unveiled Sunday in the home of Taylor Johnson Berg in Fort Dodge.

Doyle Construction and Baker Electric, both of Fort Dodge, donated their services to get the job done. Paint was donated by Diamond Vogel.

Berg was the third area woman to receive a bedroom makeover.

Kari Swisher, of Fort Dodge, was first. Her bedroom makeover was done by the Mason City affiliate of My Happy Haven. She was so moved by what was done for her that she established the Fort Dodge branch of the group.

Judy Van Alstine, of Eagle Grove, was the next area woman to receive a bedroom makeover. That was the first project completed by the new Fort Dodge affiliate of My Happy Haven.

Because cancer treatments are as exhausting as the disease itself, these women are likely to spend a lot of time in the bedroom. They now have beautiful and modern places to rest and recover.

My Happy Haven provides a unique form of support for women suffering from cancer. We salute the organization’s volunteers and the contractors who volunteer their services for these projects.

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