Katie’s Comfort House design pays homage to nonprofit’s namesake | Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — The designs for Katie’s Comfort House have been revealed and, perhaps not surprisingly, the facility looks just like the house where Katie Teets Bradshaw found comfort in the final year of her life.

During a special unveiling on Thursday evening at The Monument in downtown Winchester, Katie’s Comfort House CEO Julie Teets, who is Bradshaw’s mother, explained why the nonprofit facility for terminal patients will look almost identical to the Teets family’s Frederick County home.

Bradshaw, a Sherando High School graduate, was a nurse in Winchester Medical Center‘s intensive care unit when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2019. She had to leave her job due to the risk of being exposed to a virus or bacteria that could jeopardize her treatments, and she moved back home with her parents, Julie and Greg Teets, just nine months after purchasing her own house.

Nearly a year later, in the spring of 2020, Bradshaw decided to sell her house and remain with her parents and two brothers, Michael and Brandon Teets, while she continued to recover. Julie Teets said she and her husband were in the market for a new house themselves, so the family started shopping.

“There was this one house that I kept overlooking and I thought, ‘To make it my own, what would I have to do to this house?’” Julie Teets said. “Finally, Katie said, ‘Mom, we’ve got to go take a look at it.’ We came in and looked at the house. She fell in love with it; I saw the possibilities.”

There was also a small pond on the property. Bradshaw told her mom that she wanted to get married next to that pond someday.

The Teetses bought the house and moved there in July 2020, exactly one year after Bradshaw was diagnosed with cancer.

By September 2020, Bradshaw’s cancer was in remission and she was feeling healthy enough to return to work. Julie Teets said her daughter became an infusion nurse at Shenandoah Oncology, located on the Amherst Street campus of Winchester Medical Center.

In October, Bradshaw started dating Stephen Bradshaw and quickly realized he was the love of her life. But just when Katie Bradshaw thought the worst was over, she received devastating news.

“Christmas Eve, she was rediagnosed. Turns out, she had so many tumors on her liver, they couldn’t count them,” Julie Teets said. “She asked her doctor the question, ‘How long do I have?’ He said, ‘Three to 12 months.’”

Stephen Bradshaw proposed to his girlfriend on New Year’s Eve. The couple wed on May 29, 2021, in a ceremony held next to the pond at the Teets’ home.

“Katie passed away one day shy of three weeks after she was married,” Julie Teets said.

During Katie Bradshaw’s final hours at Winchester Medical Center, she was surrounded by loved ones conducting an emotionally and physically exhausting vigil. Julie Teets said the hospital was so large that she didn’t want to leave her daughter’s room for fear of not being there when she passed away, and there was nowhere for family members to go for a few minutes of sleep.

“For two days, we were eating cookies and drinking coffee, and we were sitting on chairs at her bedside … with our heads laying on the bed,” Julie Teets said. “There was nowhere to rest.”

The vigil came to an end on June 25, 2021.

“We realized at that point, at Katie’s bedside, that we need to make this better,” Julie Teets said.

The grieving Teets family decided to create a care facility near Winchester Medical Center where terminal patients could be transferred in their final days or hours and feel more at home than they would in a hospital. There would be patios outside of every patient room where family members could step outside and collect their thoughts, as well as places where loved ones could take a nap. There would also be a large communal area with food, a TV and video games for younger family members.

Katie’s Comfort House became a cause that resonated with the community. In March, just three-and-a-half years after plans for the facility were announced, the nonprofit endeavor reached a million dollars in donations. Julie Teets said organizers had anticipated it would take nearly twice that long to hit the million-dollar mark.

Since Katie’s Comfort House now has enough money to purchase land and start building, the Teetses decided to unveil the design of the facility on Thursday night. It’s a larger version of the Teets’ home where Katie Bradshaw got married next to a small pond, and Julie Teets said the design is appropriate because that house is where her daughter was cared for and loved in the final year of her life.

Julie Teets said Katie’s Comfort House organizers have had talks with Frederick County officials regarding placement and construction of the facility, and are working with Blue Ridge Hospice to see if there is the possibility of combining forces once the care center is operational.

She also said they have their eye on a piece of property and hope to make an announcement in the near future.

“We’re really hoping that in a couple of months,” Julie Teets said, “we’ve got a shovel and dirt.”

To learn more about Katie’s Comfort House and ways to support the initiative, visit katiescomforthouse.com.