Gift of Life Housing Helped Rural Family Through Treatment

UTICA — An airplane crash nearly cost Dan French his foot.

Then, 45 years later, a surgery to repair the pinned foot risked the appendage again.

Dan and his wife, Bobbi, thought post-surgery wound care would come down to applying a salve. Instead, he would need to spend two hours a day in a hyperbaric chamber five days a
week for three months.

That’s a big commitment for people who live and farm 160 miles from Great Falls.

“I didn’t know how we would ever manage it, living where we do,” Bobbi said. “We couldn’t have afforded a motel. I’m old and don’t like to drive that much. His foot would have been hanging down in pain in the car for hours, and the only car he could get into was an old one. Gift of Life was a lifesaver.”

Because of donor support, Benefis Foundation's Gift of Life Housing is able to provide free lodging for Benefis patients who live outside Great Falls – patients and families who may be experiencing the greatest crisis of their lives. We have two locations – Gift of Life East, located behind the Benefis Sletten Cancer Institute and Gift of Life West, located across from the Benefis West Campus. Both facilities also offer RV spaces with hookups for water, electricity and sewer (West only).

Dan and Bobbi appreciated the kitchen setup where they could pop freezer meals their daughter made into a crockpot and the staff who set up a tree at Christmas. They got to know other people who were staying in the housing during treatment and while caring for a baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

“The rooms were very homey. We got our routine down, and we were almost sad to leave,” Bobbi said. “For something so scary as his foot being at risk of amputation, the situation had a lot of good things to it. The whole staff was so nice, and so were the others staying at Gift of Life.”

Dan can get in his pickup now and graduated from the wheelchair and walker. He credits Benefis Wound Care and Gift of Life for saving his foot.

Gift of Life Housing has provided more than 14,133 nights of free lodging for more than 5,109 people in the past 33 years. In 2025, 242 patients used Gift of Life, and the longest stay was 172 days. The patient who was the farthest from home came 1,344 miles, from Tucson, Arizona.