A 12-year-old Durham cancer survivor broke ground this month on Harper's Home, a nonprofit building free short-term housing for families whose children are treated at Duke Children's Hospital.

Harper Harrell was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 8. During nearly two and a half years of treatment, she made more than 100 trips to the hospital and spent more than 50 days hospitalized between October 2021 and February 2024. Because Duke Children's is 1.9 miles from her family's home, an 11-minute drive, Harper could sleep in her own bed on days she wasn't admitted.

"We were able to come into our own house every single time I got out of the hospital, and not everybody had that privilege," she told NC Newsline. "We wanted to help everybody else that we possibly could feel that way."

Not everyone is that close. More than 3,200 families traveled more than 40 miles for care at Duke Children's in 2025, a 33% increase from the year before. Families without nearby lodging often end up in hotels or expensive short-term rentals. A 2020 study in Pediatrics found that driving more than one hour to reach hospital-based pediatric services is more the rule than the exception across the United States.

Harper and her mother, Heather Hindin, a Durham-based educator and single parent, founded Harper's Home to fill that gap. The groundbreaking took place at 2101 Strebor St. in the Duke Homestead area of west Durham, about two miles from the hospital, with dozens of friends, donors, and Duke Hospital staffers attending.

The first phase covers two buildings serving up to three families at a time, with full kitchens, in-unit laundry, and space to keep families together. The full plan calls for two duplexes and two accessory dwelling units on the family's backyard lot, housing as many as six families when completed in 10 to 15 months.

The nonprofit already operates rental properties in Durham's Northgate Park neighborhood, just under four miles from the hospital. It has provided more than 300 nights of housing to families since September.

Harper's Home has raised most of what it needs but still requires $275,000 to reach its $800,000 goal. Now a seventh grader at Brogden Middle School, Harper put it plainly: "When families can stay together during treatment, it helps make an incredibly hard time feel a little less overwhelming."