Guest Spotlight: Sal & Paula Coll

Sal and Paula Coll have been married for 37 years. Last spring Sal experienced chills and was feeling a bit off balance. After going to a few doctors, he was eventually diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare and aggressive cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.

Making the two-hour commute from their hometown of Dublin, North Carolina, Sal and Paula have been guests of ours on/off since last summer while Sal initially underwent chemotherapy treatments at UNC Hospitals. Last December his bloodwork showed that he was fighting leukemia. He’s now preparing for an eventual bone marrow transplant.

“This place is humbling,” Paula shared. “When you open the doors, it truly feels like home.”

Sal shared, “Being here has taken a lot of stress away because we don’t have to drive back and forth to home each day. There’s security here so I can concentrate on getting well.”

While Sal is resting here, Paula has kept herself very busy, preparing meals for the guests, baking holiday goods, cleaning the kitchen, etc. She shared that helping out helps her to “normalize” their stay here. “You don’t have to be quiet here. One of the things that touches my heart is the people. We don’t sit around and dwell about our illness. This has been a nice place to leave memories.”

We wish Sal, an ultra runner and retired Navy sailor, and Paula, a retired studio photographer, the absolute best in their long journey in beating cancer, which we have every reason to believe that he will.