During a recent conversation with KnowTheGlow Barbara Chadwick and Co-Founder Megan Webber found common ground. Megan explained that nearly forty percent of children who die from retinoblastoma, a childhood eye cancer, do so because families fail to complete treatment. Barbara’s work at Casa Familia is an essential piece of the puzzle, providing stability and support so families can persevere.
When Barbara speaks about her work at Casa Familia Foundation there is a warmth in her voice that reflects both the gravity and the grace of her mission. For the past five years she has helped guide one of Chile’s most unique organizations, one that stands at the intersection of compassion, resilience, and family support.
Casa Familia was founded in 2001 out of a deeply personal story. Its founders had faced their daughter’s cancer diagnosis. Determined that no other parents should walk such a difficult path alone, they created a place where families could find shelter, nourishment, and comfort while their children underwent treatment.
Today Casa Familia offers two remarkable facilities. Casa Sagrada Familia, a four-story residence in Ñuñoa, Santiago, provides lodging for up to thirty one children and their caregivers. Families receive nutritious meals, emotional support, educational reinforcement, and transport to and from Hospital Luis Calvo Mackenna. In 2019 the foundation expanded its vision by opening Casa de Luz, the first pediatric hospice in South America. In this haven children facing life limiting illnesses are surrounded by love and dignity. Families stay in small apartments where up to four relatives can live together, ensuring that a child’s final chapter is written in the embrace of those who matter most.
Eighty percent of the foundation’s funding comes from private members, supplemented by fundraising events that both sustain operations and knit together a caring community. Casa Familia now looks toward its twenty fifth anniversary in 2026 with pride and purpose.
Barbara’s path to the foundation came through an unexpected turn. Before joining she had led a diabetes awareness and communications campaign for Abbott Laboratories, focusing on children’s access to life changing medical devices. That project awakened her passion for advocacy. When it ended, she heard about a position in Communications at Casa Familia, and she felt an immediate connection to its mission. When she arrived the team numbered only ten. Today there are over thirty staff, each driven by the belief that their work makes life a little lighter for families.
Unlike hospitals Casa Familia does not diagnose or prevent illness. Instead it becomes a bridge that prevents families from collapsing under the weight of treatment. Many arrive from outside Santiago, far from home and without the financial means to endure months of hospital visits. By offering housing, meals, and help in understanding complicated medication regimens, Casa Familia keeps parents from abandoning treatment.
The conversation with KnowTheGlow also touched on Dr. Marcela Zubieta, who first introduced the organization to Childhood Cancer International. Barbara spoke of the uniqueness of Casa Familia’s pediatric hospice model, which was created by a multidisciplinary commission of experts and the advice of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation in Chile.
October is recognized as Palliative Care Month, a reminder of the importance of their mission. Looking ahead, Barbara is eager to connect retinoblastoma patients who have already found refuge at Casa Familia with KnowTheGlow and to explore how the foundation might partner with KnowTheGlow in future awareness and support campaigns. With its twenty-fifth anniversary approaching, the opportunity to amplify Casa Familia’s story feels especially timely.
For families facing childhood cancer Casa Familia is more than a residence. It is a sanctuary of hope. For Barbara Chadwick it is a calling. What they do is simple, she says with humility. They open their doors and give families a home. That home can mean the difference between giving up and carrying on. In Chile, where the challenges of cancer care often feel overwhelming, Casa Familia is proof that love and solidarity can change the course of a child’s story.
