Providing a Home Away From Home

Home is where the heart is and Martina Eckard’s heart is as big as they come. Martina’s gift of her home to the St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation’s Meadowlark Duplexes, after she passes, will provide a home away from home for patients at our St. Vincent Healthcare Cancer Center of Montana as they undergo radiation and chemotherapy.

Martina and her husband, Frank, met and were married in Billings, Montana, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Frank was an engineer by trade and worked for Honeywell building and servicing vital parts for NASA’s rocket ships. He and Martina lived a full life, traveling the country and moving around from state to state. Martina and Frank did not have any children, which lended well to their busy lifestyle. In 1995, they decided to move back to Billings and pursue their own business. They had five solid years in Montana enjoying the home where their love story began before cancer hit.

Both Martina and Frank were not strangers to cancer. Martina was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993 and, after receiving chemotherapy, went into remission. Frank was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2000 and after undergoing two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation, Frank lost his battle with the horrible disease at the age of 65, just one year after he was diagnosed. Then again, in 2008, Martina was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a mastectomy and underwent chemotherapy again. Martina remembers our cancer center nurses putting a warm blanket over her body while she received the chemo infusions. She said it felt like someone cared and that they were hugging her and making sure she felt safe.

One year ago, Martina approached St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation, understanding that she would like to leave a legacy while helping other cancer patients by gifting her home to the Meadowlark Duplexes. The Meadowlark house provides a safe and warm home, completely free of cost, with all the amenities you can imagine, to our out-of-town patients undergoing cancer treatments. The homes are a gift to our patients, alleviating their worry of travel, so they can focus on healing.

Martina is now 86 years old, healthy, happy and living at home. She said that because she never had children she wanted a plan to be able to touch others’ lives with her assets that were left over. “I have to have a plan because I’m alone. It’s nice to have somebody to provide guidance and options for leaving a legacy. The Foundation and their team did just that.”

Please join us in thanking Martina for her generous gift to our cancer patients. Her heart and her home will bless others for generations to come.

If you’d like to learn how to use a gift of real estate or other assets to make a difference at our foundation, please contact Tyler Wiltgen at 406.237.3601 or tyler.wiltgen@sclhealth.org.