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The gift of time: Raleigh businesses team up to help cancer patients

Connie Eva's time is precious and limited. Eva, a mother of two and grandmother of four, is battling stage 4 ovarian cancer. Doctors have given her less than five years to live.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Connie Eva's time is precious and limited.

Eva, a mother of two and grandmother of four, is battling stage 4 ovarian cancer. Doctors have given her less than five years to live.

Experimental drug treatments offer some hope, but they often leave her feeling drained. Eva said she tries to spend as much time as she can with her family and friends.

"But it's embarrassing if everything is a mess when someone comes over, and then you're making excuses, and then they feel bad and pick up your vacuum cleaner, and that's not why they came over," Eva said.

That is where Emily White comes in. White owns the Raleigh’s Two Maids and a Mop franchise, which has teamed up with the nonprofit Cleaning for a Reason to offer free housecleaning services to cancer patients.

Connie Eva's time is precious and limited. Eva, a mother of two and grandmother of four, is battling stage 4 ovarian cancer. Doctors have given her less than five years to live.

"I could come in and clean her house so she could have the energy to spend with her grandkids, or to cook, or do anything other than the everyday life of vacuuming and dusting," White said. "It's extremely humbling."

Staff are specially trained to use non-toxic cleaning products and to work quietly so that patients can rest.

For Eva, it is a gift that goes beyond clean counters.

"It gives you the time to talk to people and say the things you need to say when you know your life expectancy is a lot shorter than you had planned it," Eva said.

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