The House That Love Built

Coach House Offers Respite For Overworked Parents

(CBS)  CBS News Correspondent Tracy Smith reports for The Early Show in a new series called "American Hero," she focuses on Denise Callarman, who found a way to help parents of children with special medical needs.

Tracy Smith invites you to suggest other American heroes by emailing her. Please write "American Hero" in the subject line.

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In a sprawling Chicago suburb, on an unnamed street, sits the house that love built.

It's Coach House, a temporary care facility for kids like 5-year-old Michelle Kish, who suffers from rare, and disfiguring, birth defects.

When Michelle is home, her parents tend to her needs every hour of every day.

Says Michelle's mom, Mary, "She is ventilated during her sleeping hours. She's tube fed by her tummy every three hours, and she's on several medications."

Says her father, Brad, "At least twice a day, she has to have the ties on her trach changed. Ad twice a week, she has to have the trach changed."

Adds Mary, "We need a break from this sometimes."

At Coach House, for a few days a year, parents can leave their medically fragile kids in good hands, and get a taste of freedom.

Denise Callarman, who, with friend Leann Lazzari founded Coach House, knows what it is like. Her son, Jake, was born premature.

Says Callarman, "It's not unusual to do 3 days straight with 20 minute catnaps, and you still have to take care of their siblings, your other children, and your husband, your marriage. If you have a job, try to keep it. Nine times out of 10, you don't."

But it's not just about giving parents a break. The inspiration for coach house came to Denise when she was a very sick little girl.

Born with severe birth defects herself, Denise Callarman grew up in hospitals. At times, life was especially cruel. Her earliest memories are of a children's ward with a beautiful dollhouse, sealed in a glass case.

"We were not allowed to touch the dollhouse," she says. "In fact, we were not allowed to touch the glass of the dollhouse."

She survived childhood, married, and (unable to have children of her own), adopted three boys. But the strain of caring for little Jake around the clock wore her down.

"So I called my physician and said that I could not do this anymore," she recalls, "and she said, 'Denise, if you choose not to do this anymore, you need to put him in an institution, and we can admit him tomorrow if need be.' And I hung up that phone, and I said to myself, 'No way.'"

At that moment, the idea for Coach House was born.

For the children, Coach House is Nirvana. Forget glass-enclosed dollhouses. Everything at Coach House is strictly hands-on.

Says Callarman, "This is for the kids. and if the parents get a little break, good for them."

And to parents, Callarman is an American hero.



Never underestimate the power of a mother's love.