"Everything [at the Hope Lodge] was so upbeat and so positive that you couldn't help feeling good."

At 51, Skip Learned is the poster boy for a healthy lifestyle. He plays tennis twice a week, lifts weights, and works full time as a facilities manager for the public schools in Barrington, Rhode Island, where he lives. He's also a husband and father of 2 teenagers.

Learned has always been in good shape, so when his physical last June detected an elevated PSA level, a possible sign of prostate cancer, he didn't worry too much. He was convinced a consultation with a urologist would reveal some mistake with the original test results.

"I thought, there's no way that I could have cancer," Learned recalls. "Then when I had the biopsy, there it was. That was a shock."

Although his urologist suggested surgical treatment, Learned was put off by the possible side effects, which can include incontinence and impotence. He and his wife Betsy began researching other treatment options.

They turned first to the Internet, then sought insight from people around them.

"I found that as I spoke to friends and acquaintances, everyone knew somebody who was hit by this, so I used that a little bit," Learned says. "And then we went to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and met with 3 doctors there, with 3 different approaches."

Ultimately, Learned decided a radiation facility in Atlanta had the treatment approach that best suited him. He would first receive radioactive seed implants, followed by 7 weeks of external radiation therapy.

There was just one problem: Atlanta is nearly 1,000 miles away from Barrington. Commuting was not an option. And with Learned's wife working full time, his son beginning high school, and his daughter beginning college, taking the whole family South wasn't realistic either. Learned was going to have to go it alone.

But his earlier research paid off. A man he contacted for a reference for his Atlanta physicians told him about Hope Lodge, the American Cancer Society's free housing centers for cancer patients in treatment. There are 22 Hope Lodges throughout the United States. Learned immediately got on the waiting list for the one in Atlanta.

It took several weeks for a spot to open up; until then, Learned stayed in a hotel. Although he joined a local gym and even managed to find some tennis partners, he still felt isolated.

"I was in a strange city where I knew no one and I was by myself and my treatment was 15 minutes a day and that was the only thing I had to do," he recalls. "It was very lonely."

That all changed when Learned moved into Hope Lodge for the final 3 weeks of his treatment.

"Everybody there was so friendly," he says. "It's an incredible place."

The Lodge has private bedrooms and bathrooms for guests, but communal areas for cooking, eating and socializing. That design encourages guests to get to know each other, Learned says. He quickly met other men at the Lodge who were also being treated for prostate cancer and found it helpful to compare notes with them as his radiotherapy progressed.

His treatments completed, Learned returned home just before Thanksgiving. At first he struggled to get back into his usual routine. The radiation therapy left him tired, and some urinary side effects developed that had not been a problem during treatment.

Time is improving his physical condition, though, and Learned is again doing all the things he used to do. What's changed is his attitude, a shift he attributes partly to his stay at Hope Lodge.

"Something like this really makes you appreciate everything," he says. "Life is the most precious thing. It doesn't have to be life with a Lamborghini, it just has to be life."

Laughing, he adds, "Though life with a Lamborghini wouldn't be bad!"

Now that he's home, Learned says he plans to get involved with the American Cancer Society on multiple levels.

"For one thing, I'm going to refocus my charitable donations, because now I know firsthand where the money goes -- at least some of it. And it's going to a really good place."