12-year-old survivor and mom open nonprofit to house families at Duke Children's Hospital

12-year old leukemia survivor, Harper Harrell and her mother, Heather Hindin open a non-profit organization that provides housing to families traveling to Duke Children's Hospital for health care.

After spending nearly two and a half years in and out of Duke Children’s Hospital, 12-year-old Harper Harrell is finding a way to give back to families in similar situations.

Harper and her mother, Heather Hindin created Harper’s Home, a non-profit organization that provides affordable housing to families who travel more than 40 miles to access medical care at Duke Children’s Hospital. Harper's Home is not diagnose-dependent and welcome all families that travel to the hospital for care.

“We live less than two miles from Duke Children’s and we realized pretty quickly during treatment how fortunate we were to live in such close proximity to such an amazing hospital,” Hindin said.

Many families she met are not that lucky. In 2024 alone, more than 2,400 families traveled over 40 miles for care at Duke Children’s Hospital. On average, they spent 12 days in the hospital.

For children with cancer, being close to the hospital can be life-saving. In cancer patients, especially children, their white blood cell count can drop rapidly and unexpectedly. When this happens there is a 60-minute window to treat patients before they could potentially become septic. This window is called the 'the golden hour'.

Harper knows that struggle first-hand. She was diagnosed with leukemia in October of 2021. When Harper was young, Heather worked at the Emily K. Center, an educational center in Durham that was co-founded by Duke University’s Head Coach, Michael Krzyzewski, also known as “Coach K”. The family has since held a close relationship with coach.

“The day I was diagnosed, he called my mom and was like, is there anything we can do to help, like anything”, Harrell said. “And a few hours later the head of the hospital was there because he knew them.”

Since then, the family has raised thousands for the V Foundation. They donated $27,000 from selling t-shirts they designed with slogans saying 'Peace out Cancer, Brave like Harper'

In Feb. 2024 she rang the bell, signifying the end of treatment. She is working on reaching her second year in remission.

This project is made possible by several private donors, federal grants and local tradespeople donating their time.

While there is a suggested donation of nightly rates, accommodations are available to all on a sliding scale.

The mother and daughter said what brought them peace during that time was being able to come home, lay with their dogs and sleep in their own beds.

“We wanted to be able to give other families the opportunity to feel that same level of comfort, coziness, belonging, and safety through Harper’s Home,” said Hindin.

And for Harper, making the homes dog-friendly was a non-negotiable.

“Being with our dogs and having our own place to come home to was so special, and it meant everything to us. So I can only assume it means as much to them,” Harper said.

There are currently two homes open in Northgate Park. They are raising money to build six additional buildings, that will house a total of 8 families in the Duke Homestead neighborhood.

Harper has a message for families who will soon call Harper’s Home their own: