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Dr. Pisters is a renowned cancer surgeon, researcher, professor and administrator. As President of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, he leads and inspires thousands of MD Anderson’s hidden healthcare heroes.
Peter established his career at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, serving over two decades in faculty and senior leadership positions prior to his appointment as President in December, 2017. He leads with a strong moral compass and dedicates himself to personal core values that include integrity, hard work and life-long learning. Peter is a loving father of three.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
Our Mission
Halo House’s mission is to help save the lives of cancer patients battling leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma by offering them access to clean, temporary, and affordable housing so that they can pursue treatment at the Texas Medical Center (TMC). We do this by providing fully furnished apartments for $25 a day to people who must often stay for months of treatment.
The Need
In addition to receiving a cancer diagnosis and having to come to a new city to receive treatment, paying for a place to live while in Houston and rent or a mortgage back home can be emotionally and financially
devastating. While these out-of-town families are in Houston, they usually need to stay in hotels or short term,
fully furnished apartments. The cost for this housing can be crippling, and most health insurance does
not cover housing.
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Halo House’s vision is that one day no one battling a blood cancer will have to worry about where they are
going to live during treatment in Houston, or going bankrupt while paying for living, eating, and parking
expenses here, and their rent or mortgage back home. Our goal is to help alleviate medically caused
bankruptcies by mitigating a large portion of the financial burden associated with the cost of housing during a patient’s stay in Houston. We believe that by providing a “home away from home” and easing the family’s
financial burden, their focus can be directed toward healing.
Halo House is not just a building; it is a home – a place that shelters, protects, and nurtures its occupants.
Our Inspiration
The inspiration for Halo House was Derek, a loving husband and father of two young children who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 26. After unsuccessful treatment in 2009 in their native Florida, Derek and his wife, Emily, came to see Dr. Nathan Fowler at MD Anderson. Derek’s inability to work during the treatment, combined with frequent lengthy visits to Houston, quickly depleted the family’s savings. He tearfully admitted to Dr. Fowler that he was not afraid to face death, but that his true fear was the thought of leaving his family penniless if he did not survive.