By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — On a grey day there was a ray of hope on Plymouth’s south side as area supporters gathered to break ground on Hope House for Riley Children’s Hospital a project of the Montgomery family of Plymouth.
John Montgomery – son of Brian and Jill Montgomery – received just that hope from Riley’s.

“John came into our business one day looking like somebody had beat him up and complaining of being tired,” said Dad Brian at the groundbreaking ceremony. “I said enough — we’re going to the doctor. We got an appointment that day, and about two hours later John was diagnosed with leukemia. They told us we had an appointment at Riley’s – in three hours. It was ‘don’t get in an accident, get there as fast as possible.’ We were there for the next five months.
“We weren’t able to keep up with all the thank yous to the community. This is one way we hope to give back.”
John received a bone marrow transplant one year later. The care he received at Riley Hospital led to the formation of the Hope House of Northern Indiana, Inc. committee in October 2008. The group aims to express their gratitude to Riley through a fundraiser and to help people who may face similar circumstances.
Hope House will be — literally — a new home on South Michigan Street in Plymouth. The house will be sold with 100 percent of the net  proceeds supporting pediatric medical research and lifesaving treatments at Riley Hospital.
“The cost of the house is $215,000, right now and you better buy it quickly because it may not stay at that and the price isn’t going down,” said Brian. “All we have in this is the cost of the materials and the labor. We don’t have an office, or a consultant or any big salaries to pay for. Everything not involved in the actual cost of building the house will go to Riley’s.”
Children from all 92 Indiana counties come to Riley Hospital and its regional clinics throughout the state more than 220,000 times each year — more than 8,000 visits involve families from Marshall and surrounding counties. For more information you can visit www.RileyKids.org.