Making Room for Healing, wherever you are.
How a hospital stay with our son Milo turned into a nonprofit for other families going through the same thing.
The diagnosis
Our son Milo was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in January — an aggressive, high-risk form of leukemia that doesn't leave room for planning. There was no time to prepare, no time to pack. One conversation with a doctor, and our entire world reordered itself around a hospital room we hadn't known existed the day before.
Living out of grocery bags
By the second week, our hospital room felt like it had been hit by a small storm. Between everything we brought from home and the incredible generosity of the hospital and amazing organizations, our room quickly filled with medical supplies, gifts, clothes, toys, toiletries, snacks, and everyday essentials.
Every surface was covered, bags were stacked in every corner, and finding what we needed became overwhelming. That's when we bought totes and organizers, creating a space that brought us a sense of calm and allowed us to focus on what mattered most — our son's healing.
What if the next family didn't have to figure this out alone?
Somewhere in those weeks, we started talking about the families we saw around us — down the hall, in the same unit, living some version of what we were living. Nobody hands you a system for organizing a hospital room. You just improvise, exhausted, in the middle of the scariest thing you've ever faced.
We started sketching out what a simple kit could look like: storage, organization, a few small comforts. Something a hospital could hand a family on day one, instead of a family figuring it out on day fourteen.
From hospital room to registered nonprofit.
Milo's diagnosis
Our family's hospital stay begins — and the idea for Room for Healing is born out of it.
Incorporated in Ohio
Room for Healing is officially incorporated as a nonprofit corporation.
First board meeting
Our founding board holds its organizational meeting and adopts our governing policies.
501(c)(3) status approved
The IRS recognizes Room for Healing as a tax-exempt public charity.
Building our first kits
We're preparing to deliver our very first care kits to families in the hospital right now.
The values behind every kit.
Dignity, not charity
Every family deserves a room that supports healing, not one more thing to manage.
No barrier to receive
Dignity shouldn't depend on how long a hospital stay lasts, or a family's ability to pay.
Small things, real weight
Practical support can carry real emotional weight when a family needs it most.
Meet the founders.
Matt & Amariliz Hambleton
Matt and Amariliz lead Room for Healing together. Matt serves as Chair and Treasurer, overseeing strategic direction, hospital partnerships, and the operational and financial systems that keep the organization sustainable as it grows. Amariliz serves as Vice Chair and Chief Family Experience Officer, making sure every kit, every interaction, and every decision reflects the dignity and real needs of the families they serve. Together, they built Room for Healing out of their own family's experience — so no other family has to figure it out alone.