Staying Healthy: Rooms of Hope builds ‘retreat room’ for teen battling brain cancer

When 17-year-old Peyton Reilly was diagnosed with brain cancer last November, her life dramatically changed, as did that of her family. Constantly being shuffled back and forth between her home in Pleasanton and the hospital, she couldn’t go to school and she couldn’t work out: two things difficult for her to forego.

But to give her a sanctuary, local nonprofit Rooms of Hope jumped in to build her and her sister a “retreat room” — a customized, teenage hang-out in the backyard. This is the organization’s mission, to give children suffering from life-threatening illnesses a dream room makeover, some sort of refuge when their lives are feeling out-of-control.

“During a very difficult time in my life, Rooms of Hope and their volunteers gave our family an unforgettable experience,” Peyton said.

The mini-house is one chapter of a long and taxing journey this year.

Peyton, a junior at Foothill, started experiencing headaches late summer last year, but as she had a history of migraines, they didn’t seem too worrisome at first. However, after about three months of checkups, an MRI in November detected a cancerous brain tumor, specifically called medulloblastoma.

The tumor was completely removed, but then treatment began, with six weeks of radiation followed by chemotherapy. Peyton qualified for a study at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which essentially “compacts eight months into four,” according to her mother Jennifer Reilly — it was good to expedite the process, Jennifer said, but the study did make for a more intense treatment process.

“It was crazy,” Jennifer said of the past few months, and the whirlwind of shuttling between house and hospital. “The only thing is they didn’t give you much time to think about what the next plan was.”

The Reillys found out about Rooms of Hope through friends whose son had been diagnosed with the same type of cancer and undergone a similar experience. They applied to Rooms of Hope and were accepted. Though the organization usually focuses on room makeovers, Peyton really wanted a backyard space for both her and her 15-year-old sister Jaiden.

So Rooms of Hope created a 10-foot-by-12-foot mini-house in the Reillys’ backyard; in addition to making over the room of Treyton, Peyton’s brother.

Rooms of Hope was officially formed as a standalone organization in 2014, though the team was together as a satellite arm for a different nonprofit since 2011. Shelley Ham, an interior designer, founded the organization after two of her own children experienced life-threatening illnesses.

“These kids can’t be forgotten,” she said. When a child is undergoing a serious illness, “they don’t know the end-game,” she said. While other kids are outside playing, “they’re at home looking at four walls.”

“What I’ve learned about design is, when you’re surrounded by beauty … whatever your definition of beauty is, it lifts your spirit,” Ham added.

Another important component of the organization’s program is that they also redesign siblings’ rooms.

“It’s really a family affair, and a lot of times siblings are overlooked,” Ham said.

Over the course of about five days in May, Rooms of Hope constructed Peyton’s “retreat room” and made-over Treyton’s room, a comprehensive effort that included designers, a construction team, electricians and volunteers from Keller Williams Realty. The Reilly family wasn’t allowed to go into the backyard while it was happening, and for one night they were put up in the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Pleasanton — before the big reveal happened.

“They didn’t leave any detail out of it,” Jennifer said. “Rooms of Hope goes above and beyond, it’s crazy what they do.”

The purple and gray mini-house is part sitting room and part workout space for Peyton and Jaiden, complete with mirror, couch and television.

“We didn’t know what to say, I don’t think any of us knew what to say,” Jennifer added. “We were in shock, she was so in love with it, we wrote up a whole thank-you note to them. How do you repay anybody?”

Peyton finished her final round of chemotherapy last week and is beginning the road to recovery, her mom says, which includes heading back to school in the fall. (Since being diagnosed, she has been home-schooled through a Pleasanton Unified program.)

She wants to use her own experience as inspiration to help other young people in similar situations. She has started a GoFundMe campaign and wants to create care packages for teenagers battling life-threatening illnesses, to bring the comforts of home to the hospital.

And now she’s excited to enjoy her Rooms of Hope-built retreat room.

“They are such an wonderful organization and they went above and beyond,” she wrote. “My retreat room is so amazing, and I’m so glad I can go somewhere quiet while I’m still in treatment and for many years after.”

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