JW House Grand Opening Celebration

Santa Clara, CA  10/24/08  Over 300 were drawn to the JW House grand opening celebration at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center on October 24, 2008. A native of Belgium, JW, short for Jan-Willem Knapen, a junior at Bellarmine College Preparatory, was stricken with an inoperable brain tumor. At Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara, a loving bond developed with his pediatric oncologist, Dr. Alan Wong. They dreamed of building a house where young patients could stay with their families, while undergoing treatments at the hospital. It seemed like an impossible dream to raise the money, but JW’s motto was, “Never, ever give up”.

Before he died in 2005, $500,000 was raised, giving impetus to contributions from the entire Kaiser physician staff and touching the hearts of many more to raise a total of $2.4 million. The house has 5,700 sq. ft. with two studio and two one-bedroom units. Each room is named after one of JW’s family members. The house can accommodate four families who share a communal kitchen. Families can stay there for five days.

For more information, visit www.jwhouse.org.

Click each image for a larger view.

Information provided by Doris Frank-Liu.
Photographs provided by Jeanne MacKenzie.