(L to R) Tracy Wade, Shayna Bigazzi, Tracey Smith, Stacy Carter, and Heather Heard
Stage4Hope, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to help bridge the gaps patients and families often face after a late-stage cancer diagnosis, has officially opened its Welcome Center at Ferngrove, located at 3465 Dillard Road in Highlands.
The Welcome Center is the first completed phase of what will become a growing cancer retreat and wellness campus. The next phase, the retreat center, is expected to be completed in late 2027.
Stage4Hope was founded by Stacy Carter, herself a stage 4 cancer survivor, so she and her team understand firsthand just how overwhelming a cancer diagnosis can be. In fact, everyone involved with Stage4Hope has been touched by cancer in some way – as a patient, caregiver, family member, or friend.
“We understand the fear, the complexity, and the fight,” Stacy says. “We’ve built this organization to meet patients exactly where they are.”
That means offering practical help when it is needed most. Stage4Hope can help patients gain fast-track access to leading cancer centers, genetic testing, clinical trial information, travel assistance, and emotional support. The organization also funds research focused on precision oncology and targeted therapies, while offering healing retreats, a self-guided six-week emotional support program, and life-planning tools designed to help patients navigate what comes next.
Every day, thousands of people in the United States receive a cancer diagnosis, many of them at an advanced stage when time is especially important. Stage4Hope’s goal is to make sure patients know they have options and that they don’t have to navigate those options alone.
Sonja Lehmann knows just how important that kind of help can be. Diagnosed with stage 4 appendiceal cancer, a rare cancer with only about 2,000 cases diagnosed each year, Lehmann searched for answers at five different cancer centers, including MD Anderson. Each one told her there was nothing they could do. Her longtime cancer doctor in Nashville even declined to perform surgery, telling her she was too high-risk and might have only one to two years to live.
“I was done with doctors,” Lehmann recalls.
That’s when Stacy and the Stage4Hope team stepped in, helping Lehmann arrange an appointment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Unlike the other doctors, the specialists there immediately saw possibilities, told her they could help, and performed a successful surgery, significantly extending her life.
Lehmann says she is “so thankful that God used Stage4Hope to encourage me to go to one more cancer doctor.”
With Stage4Hope now permanently established on the Plateau, new opportunities will continue to emerge for supporting patients and families facing cancer. As the campus continues to grow, so will the opportunities to provide hope, support, and life-changing resources to patients and families facing cancer.
If you’d like to learn more, email info@stage4hope.org or call (833) 402-8391.
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