The Children's Inn at NIH

My two boys aged 9 and 5 have been patients of the National Institute of Health and we have stayed at The Childrens Inn every month for almost 5 years. I cannot begin to convey our gratitude to all of those who work and volunteer at the Children's Inn. My boys are always so excited to go to the hospital each month - even though they know that part of the visit includes needles, treatments, surgery and more unpleasantness than you would ever wish on your worst eneny. But because of the kind people at the Inn and the activities The Inn offers they have something to look forward to such as the awesome playground, arts and crafts room, playroom, meditation room (although no meditating is going on Shhh...). My boys love to play basketball on the sports court and look for the deer family that lives in the woods behind the Inn. To see such continuing fear and pain on your child's face is too much to bear. I would like to extend my everlasting thanks and gratitude to The Children's Inn for helping to ease my childrens fear and help them to live as happily and normally as possible. You do a wonderful job!!!!

My granddaughter suffers from a rare genetic autoimmune disease and is enrolled in a research study at NIH. She makes frequent trips to NIH and stays at the Children's Inn. I am her grandmother and have had the privledge of staying with her at the Inn. The Inn is a magical place. When you enter its doors after a long day at the clinic all the pressures/worries of the day fly off your shoulders. It is so relaxing there. My granddaughter, Avery just loves to be at the Inn. She doesn't care what happens to her at the clinic as long as at the end of the day she heads back to the Inn. She is so happy there which makes our whole family happy. All the staff & volunteers make you feel special and you know they really care about the children and families staying there. The in is called a place like home, Avery calls it a place BETTER than home.

Our daughter is a patient at the NIH and she looks forward to our visits to DC because of the Inn! The staff go out of their way to make this a "home away from home" for these special children that go through far more than a child should have to endure. The Inn takes a situation that may be stressful for a family and helps alleviate some of the burden that chronic illness brings to a family. Even our other daughter looks forward to going to the NIH! As anyone with one healthy child and one chronically ill child knows, most often the siblings end up having to sit through appointment after appointment and get tired of it, but the Inn to our other daughter is a place where she feels special too! The staff goes out of their way to make sure each child feels like royalty. ;) The Inn is a tender place to fall when the days are long and stressful and will always have a special in our hearts.

Our son Cory was diagnosed with DIPG a terminal brain tumor Jan 31st 2011 after going through clinical trials at Boston Children's Hospital we decided on a trail at NIH. Our first trip to the Children's Inn at NIH was in Dec of 2011 and we continued to stay there on several occasions until March of 2012. We sometime only stayed a couple of nights at the Inn and then sometimes for 2 weeks at a time. We always called it our home away from home. Everyone at the Inn were so kind and caring and so very personal, like we were family. Our other 2 children also came with us on a couple of the trips and they too were treated so nicely. I tell people about the Inn and our experiences there all the time. The dinners that were cooked by volunteers, the outings we were able to go on. The day before my son's big 12+ hr brain surgery CED clinical trial I ended up being taken from the Inn via ambulance to Suburban Hospital for kidney stones and my husband and son were at NIH ... One of your staff was kind enough to drive my husband & son to the hospital to visit me as I ended up being there for a couple of days. One of your staff also picked me up when I was discharged. We can't say enough about the Children's Inn and the experiences we had there. My son Cory Gaudet lost his 19 month battle with DIPG on Aug. 19, 2012 just 4 days after his 18th bday.

My daughter has incurable cancer and is in treatment at the NIH clinic in bethesda. The children's inn gives us a safe place to stay that we don't have to pay for. they feed us, have a class for my daughter and have tons of fun things to take our mind off things. and they pay for our groceries too! and take us there! honestly these guys are a lifesaver. i donno what i would do without them. it's because they're there that my daughter is able to get her treatments as easily as she does. i'd hate to think what it would be like without them.

I volunteered at the Children's Inn for a year and had an absolutely amazing experience. The Inn is such a warm and welcoming place, and the people who work and volunteer there genuinely care about the children and their families. Everyone has a smile on his/her face, and people go out of their way to make sure that guests feel as "at home" as possible. Families were thankful for having a place like the Inn to stay at while they and their children are going through such a tough time. I remember vividly how grateful families were to have things - that we normally might not make much of - like hand lotion, a crossword puzzle book, or something to munch on when they were at the Clinical Center at 7:30 pm. The Children's Inn truly is a great non-profit.

There are many fun things to do at The Children's Inn.
Every other Tuesday we have BINGO. There are many people at BINGO. At BINGO if you win, you can have a prize. We have Family Dinners about four times a week. Every Family Dinner has different food like hot dogs, pasta, salad and tacos. Sometimes we have music during dinner. We also go on field trips. We have gone to the zoo, the airport for Fantasy Flight, the Cherry Blossoms and the museums. The gameroom has many video games. There's a pool table in the game room. They also have air hockey. The game room is a fun room! We have Teen Night every other Monday. At Teen Night, we play some games. At Teen Night, there are many teenagers. The teenagers can talk to each other. We have food at Teen Night. There are other fun things to do at The Inn, but these are my favorite. I like The Children's Inn!

I came to NIH some years ago with my son who had a life-threatening disease and I didn't know what to expect or where we were going to stay while under treatment. Well, we were welcomed to stay at The Children's Inn at NIH and I just couldn't believe how great that place is, how much support you get from other families going through the same situation and how incredible the staff and all the people who work there are...they really make you feel at home, a home away from home! To us The Children's Inn was and continues to be a blessing and the work they do to and for the families is great. Thank you Children's Inn!!!!