Family donating to Hosparus after loved one's death

Patricia Moore didn’t know everything Hosparus offers until her mother decided to stop battling the cancer with which she had been diagnosed.

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Pong Son Krouse died of cancer in July.

Amber Coulter

Patricia Moore, of Radcliff, and her family plan to donate $10,000 to Hosparus after the organization took care of her mother earlier this year.

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What Moore learned about Hosparus and its staff inspired her family to make a $10,000 donation to the organization.

Moore and her family moved from Kansas into the Radcliff home of her mother, Pong Son Krouse, in May to spend the remaining two months of life with Krouse.

Krouse was diagnosed with bone cancer when the wound from a molar extracted in September 2011 never healed. A doctor who looked at the area said it looked like Krouse had a tumor. He did a biopsy.

The diagnosis came in February and the doctor advised Moore to move closer to her mother as soon as possible.

Aggressive surgery in March left Krouse needing a prosthesis in her mouth.

But within a month they learned the cancer had spread to Krouse’s lymph nodes. In may she was told she needed another surgery that would result in muscle loss.

“It was Mother’s Day weekend,” Moore said. “She called me in Kansas and said, ‘I’m done.’”

Krouse, 62, had learned that if the cancer spread again, it would likely go to her lung. She would need chemotherapy and radiation, Moore said.

“She said, ‘Forget it. I don’t want to live like that. I’m done,’” Moore said.

Moore’s family and Hosparus came to care for Krouse.

The organization provided a companion, a social worker and nurses, Moore said.

“I mean, these people were so nice,” she said. “I’ve never met a group of people so caring, never a bad attitude. They always came, and it was just refreshing.”

Hosparus also provided a social worker for Moore’s 9-year-old son and offered to provide one for Moore, too.

Hosparus staff picked up medicine and did everything they could to make the situation easier, Moore said.

“I never had to want for anything,” she said. “All I had to do was call them.”

That care led Moore and her husband to donate half of her mother’s life insurance proceeds to Hosparus to make sure care is available to other families who needed it.

Details of the donation haven’t been worked out yet, but it is planned to take place next month.

Donations from families make it possible to provide Hosparus services to people who don’t have Medicare or insurance, said Wanda Dobbins, bereavement counselor and clinical coordinator for the Hosparus organization that oversees the 10-county area that includes Hardin County.

Bereavement services are completely paid for by donations, and the organization’s pediatric program is assisted by the money, she said.

Dobbins said she was among the Hosparus representatives who helped Krouse. Dobbins admired Krouse and her family and friends as she lived her last days.

Sharing their lives during such a challenging, vulnerable time can be difficult for people, she said.

“It’s absolutely sacred to be invited into their homes and to journey alongside them,” she said.

Dobbins said she enjoys being available at all times to offer answers and support to families who need those things.

She’s glad the donation money will help continue in that mission.

Amber Coulter can be reached at (270) 505-1746 or acoulter@thenewsenterprise.com.