Lynn Walker was worried.

In 2013, after her son Caleb had undergone his third brain surgery, a friend sent the family away for an extended weekend trip to Ocean City, N.J.

Caleb had been gone for more than two hours on a beach bike expedition, and Lynn was getting anxious. "Caleb comes bursting through the door and says, 'I know what I'm going to do! I'm going to start a foundation!'" Lynn recalled.

Caleb explained that while biking by the ocean he had felt normal for the first time in four years. "He said, 'When you get away from everything else, you get to feel normal. This is what I want to give people,'" said Lynn.

For the last 11 years, the organization Caleb formed, A Week Away Foundation, has been providing families with weeklong vacations. "Our mission is to provide respite weeks for families that are battling a life-threatening illness, thereby enabling them to come back refreshed from some time away so they can re-engage and continue to fight their disease," said Lynn, who is the director of the registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

There are no age limitations for people going on the trip, which is for a patient diagnosed by a medical doctor and undergoing treatment, as well as family members and friends who have been caring for the patient since the diagnosis.

The site of the respites must be drivable and within a 500-mile radius of A Week Away's coverage area, which is made up of Adams, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Delaware, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Perry, and York counties, along with Philadelphia.

A Week Away has granted 305 respites. Beaches are a popular destination, and the foundation also provides trips to the Pennsylvania mountains and will send families to urban areas if the patient has a particular interest in a cultural activity.

"The life of anyone involved with fighting cancer or any chronic life-threatening illness is turmoil," Lynn said. "It's like living in a cement mixer, and they never, ever get a break. If we can take them out of that world, that reality, for a week and give them a stress-free experience at no cost for them, we can buy time. And if we have time, we can give God and science a chance to work."

Before he was diagnosed with brain cancer after having a seizure, Caleb was a seemingly healthy senior at Lampeter-Strasburg High School two months before graduation with plans to study pre-med and wrestle in college.

He was briefly paralyzed following the first of his six brain surgeries but bounced back and was able to run and ride a bicycle.

Lynn recalls a visit to the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania when Caleb was 18. "He put his head on my shoulder and started crying," she said. "That wasn't like him at all."

Caleb had noticed a young mother holding a tiny infant and said, "We're so blessed. We have our family and our faith. Who helps them?"

Lynn said, "That was the day the seed (for the foundation) was planted. On the boardwalk, it sprouted."

When he realized he would not have time to graduate from Millersville, Caleb took on a variety of jobs in the city to raise money for A Week Away.

The Light the Tree campaign is one of the foundation's big fundraisers. In 2014, Caleb arranged for an ill child to hit the button that turned on the lights on the Christmas tree in Penn Square. In October, he suffered 40 seizures in one day, and doctors told him he likely had less than a month to live. "You have to get me to my fundraiser," Caleb responded.

He survived long enough to see the foundation grant its first respite and deliver a speech during the tree-lighting ceremony. Caleb died days later on Dec. 3, 2014, after becoming unconscious while writing thank you letters. It was one week before his 24th birthday.

Lynn keeps a collage on her desk featuring photos of some of the businesses and community members who have helped the foundation raise more than $2.5 million. "It's a reminder that so many people have been with us for 11 years," she said.

Lancaster County Motors Subaru sponsors the annual August golf tournament, which is already sold out. Members 1st Federal Credit Union, Speedwell Construction, and Hess Auctioneers are also major contributors. "My favorite donation is someone who gives $2 a month," Lynn said. "That always puts a smile on my face."

There are many avenues to help A Week Away, including the donation of a property that can host respites. "God has blessed this organization. He has taken care of it," Lynn said. "(The organization) always needs money, but the best way to help us is to give us referrals. We want to help people."

For more information about the A Week Away Foundation, go to http://www.aweekaway.org.

"It's Caleb's legacy," said Lynn, who keeps a quote in her office that reads, "I've not heard your voice in years, but my heart has conversations with you every day."

"This is my way of being able to support his dreams," Lynn added. "There's a little selfish part, too. It puts me in touch with people who loved him and who he loved."