About Christopher’s Haven
Christopher’s Haven was founded in 2001 by three-time cancer survivor Dan Olsen after he saw a desperate need for temporary, low-cost housing for pediatric cancer patients and their families.
While receiving treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital, Olsen met families struggling to care for a child battling cancer, while also facing exorbitant costs of extended stays near the hospital. After surviving his third bout with the disease, he envisioned a “Haven” for young cancer patients and their families where they would have a low-cost temporary home and community to allow them to focus primarily on their child’s treatment and recovery.
The New England actor, singer-songwriter enlisted the support of many volunteers who believed in his dream. In 2006, Olsen saw his vision for Christopher’s Haven realized when the organization opened the door to its initial apartment in Boston to a 7-year-old child seeking lifesaving outpatient pediatric cancer treatment with her family during their two-month stay.
The “Christopher” of Christopher’s Haven, is no specific child, but rather the name Olsen selected to symbolize all the children he met during his treatment for cancer.
