Marine veteran Maurice Guilleaume was facing weeks of treatment in a grueling battle against an aggressive cancer at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Long Beach.
Guilleaume’s condition fueled anxiety over how he and his family were going to deal with temporarily moving from their home in Riverside to the VA hospital more than 60 miles away.
That’s when the Fisher House Foundation stepped in and came to the rescue. “I got a call that I could stay at the Fisher House in Long Beach while I was undergoing treatment and it would be free. I couldn’t believe it,” Guilleaume said Tuesday from the Fisher House, next door to the VA Medical Center at Seventh Street and Bellflower Boulevard.
“I could not be at a better place. It’s awesome,” Guilleaume said. “The staff is wonderful. They are bending over backwards for me and my sister, Anora, who is staying here, too.”
Wearing his red USMC baseball hat, Guilleaume said, “I love the Marines for all they stand for,” he said. “Their birthday (their 257th) is Thursday (Nov. 10). I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life, but being a Marine was the best.”
A Fisher House is a home away from home for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers. There currently are 93 Fisher Houses in the United States and in Europe with plans for more.
The nonprofit Fisher Foundation was initiated in 1990 by Zachary Fisher, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., who was a prominent figure in the New York real estate community as a residential and commercial developer. He died in 1999.
Fisher and his wife, Elizabeth, decided to create the Fisher Houses when they learned that military families were paying out of their pockets for hotel and transportation costs while their loved ones were receiving medical care. Since its inception, Fisher Houses has served more than 430,000 military and veteran families, saving them more than $547 million in lodging and transportation costs.
The Long Beach Fisher House opened six years ago. It is part of Fisher House Southern California which also provides support for veterans getting care at Camp Pendleton or San Diego Navy Hospitals. Since the Long Beach Fisher House opened, 12,000 families have stayed there for 11,000 night stays, according to Linda Rahn, Fisher House Southern California executive director.
Another recent family member staying at the Fisher House was Lee Madden who had not seen her brother, Mark Madden, in years. She had moved to Australia 40 years ago but had stayed in touch with her brother through phone calls and emails, hoping to see him again after the pandemic.
“Her opportunity came sooner than she thought, but not under the circumstances for which she hoped,” said Gary Hopkins, acting president of Fisher House Southern California.
Hopkins said that Mark Madden, now in his 60s, a veteran U.S. Air Force medic and a retired nurse at the VA Medical Center in Long Beach, was recently diagnosed with a rare form of dementia.
“He was admitted to the VA Long Beach, a place where he had taken care of his fellow veterans for so many years,” Hopkins said.
Mark Madden’s sister, Lee, was immediately contacted in Australia. She later said that she worried about where she would stay in Long Beach and the costs involved. Again, the Fisher House came to her aid. She has since returned to Australia where she works for the government of Western Australia. She will return to Long Beach next year to handle her brother’s taxes and other duties.
The Fisher House is a home where relatives can stay free of charge, who have veterans being treated at the VA Medical Center in Long Beach. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
“I could not have managed without the sanctuary of Fisher House,” she said. “I was shown great kindness, and nothing was too much for the Fisher House team. This was not just a place to stay. It was an island of calm I returned to each evening after hours of struggle with the many demands and spending precious time with my brother.” Her brother is single and never married. “The Fisher House is an incredible place where the staff is amazing,” Lee Madden said by phone from her home in Australia. “The Fisher House gave him a lot of peace. He is in a care facility now.”
Lee Madden comes from a military family. She said her father was a bomber pilot during the Vietnam War. Her brother joined the Air Force in 1973-74 and then became a registered nurse before starting work at the Long Beach VA in 2000 before retiring.
“Mark said he wanted to help veterans, and that’s just what he did in Long Beach. He is a good man who had a bad hand dealt to him. I love him.”
Last week at the Fisher House, Maurice Guilleaume, 66, paused to reflect on his life. He was born in Santa Fe Springs in 1956, went to high school in Bell Gardens and joined the Marines as a teenager. He spent 11 years in the Marines, including time as an aircraft rescue and firefighting specialist, before leaving as a staff sergeant and moving to Danbury, Connecticut where he was a firefighter for the Danbury Fire Department.
Guilleaume’s career as a firefighter ended when he slipped on icy steps while fighting a fire and broke his back. He eventually made his way back to Southern California where he worked for Ferguson Pipe and Supply before retiring four years ago. He moved to Riverside where he lives with his wife, Beth, a horse named Gunner and two dogs.
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He was diagnosed with cancer in his neck and has started seven weeks of chemotherapy treatment and 35 radiation treatments.
“I’m just happy to be in this great place while I get treatment,” Guilleaume said. His sister nodded in agreement.
Asked what would happen if he needs more treatment after the seven weeks, Yolanda White, Fisher House manager, said, “They can stay here as long as it takes.”
In honor of the Fisher House Southern California president who recently died after a fall while gardening, Hopkins said the foundation is renaming its foundation fund the Terry Geiling Family Emergency Fund.
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Hopkins said that every dollar donated through Dec. 31 will be matched up to $100,000, thanks to the donations of $50,000 from the Larry and Helen Hoag Foundation and $25,000 each from the Martin & Clairese Clancy Foundation and the Fisher House So Cal Board of Directors.
Geiling, former executive director of the Long Beach Gold Star Manor before taking the position as president of the Fisher House So Cal Foundation, and the late Congressman Steve Kuykendall were the driving force behind the creation of Long Beach Fisher House.
To donate, click on FisherHouseSoCal.org. For more information, email Linda Rahn at LRahn@fisherhousesocal.org or call 562-297-0990.