News & Announcements

One Patient's Dream...to provide DVDs to other Hospice Patients

April 28, 2010

      (Barrington, IL) Even when facing a crisis, Julie Kieffer is thinking of others. 
      The Crystal Lake woman, who, with a rare form of head and neck lymphoma, was admitted recently to Hospice and Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois (HPNI), is asking friends, families and even strangers to support a fund-raising project to purchase a unique DVD series that will be donated to the agency. The series, “Sunrise Earth,” a Discovery Channel program, unobtrusively and beautifully films sunrises at locations from around the world. There is no narration, just the opportunity to watch and listen to what it is like at that specific location in the morning.
      "I just wanted to do something for Hospice (& Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois) because they all have done so much for me," she said. "I came across this show just flipping through channels one day and the idea came to me. The videos are so calming and beautiful to watch," Kieffer said. "They are perfect for people like me who can't go out but who can experience what it's like to watch the sun rise in very cool places."
      Kieffer has started the ball rolling on the project by sending messages via Facebook and email to friends and family. A quick response already resulted in the enough funds to purchase a couple of sets in both DVD and BluRay, noted her husband, Steve, who explained that the sets vary in cost.
      “We want people to know that their level of giving should be to their comfort,” Julie continued. “We will be thankful for donations of any size.”
      “This is such a wonderful and generous offer,” noted Liz Morrison, a social worker at HPNI who visits with Kieffer. “Many patients would be able to benefit from watching these shows, especially those in our new Pepper Family Hospice Home and Center for Care in Barrington and our Inpatient Unit in Woodstock. It’s so like Julie to be thinking of others instead of herself.”
      As a sidebar to this project, Kieffer hopes to educate people about early detection for cancer, and to try to promote the idea of screenings for the form of the disease that afflicts her. “I want it out there. I want to see more screenings to help people trap it earlier,” she added.
      Diagnosed in 2008, Kieffer, a bookkeeper with the Salvation Army, underwent a rigorous regiment of radiation and chemotherapy, which eliminated any sign of cancer. However, the disease returned this past winter in a much more vigorous form.
      “I really didn’t know much about hospice at the time, but learned that it really is helpful, so I would recommend people to look into it if they need help.”
      For information on how to donate to the project, contact Morrison at HPNI at 847-381-5599 or email Julie at juliejohn221@att.net.