Liz Littleton
Liz Littleton

In life, people face crossroads: instances that can define, break, or push them to rise higher. For some, hardship can feel like an ending. For others, it becomes the start of something extraordinary. These "make or break" moments don't come with warning signs or instructions. They carry a challenge. Will they be defeated, or will they turn pain into purpose?

Liz Littleton chose the latter. She stepped into adversity rather than shrink in it. That choice led her to create Lighthouse Assisted Living and Specialty Transportation Concierge (STC). These two organizations were born from conviction, compassion, and the refusal to let suffering go unanswered.

Liz's journey is one of calling. Her relationship with healthcare began at age 14, when she was accompanying her father, a physician, on his hospital rounds. Those quiet walks through sterile hallways and dim nursing homes opened Liz's eyes to something that stayed with her. She witnessed people spending their final moments alone, stripped of comfort, dignity, and warmth.

This experience stirred something in her. Liz remembers asking her father, "Wouldn't it be better if people could die in a place that felt more like home, with a dog running around and the smell of bread baking in the oven?" Her father stopped in his tracks and said, "That's a really good idea, honey. You should do that."

That exchange planted a seed, a vision of what end-of-life care could look like. However, like many dreams, it would take years, detours, and a few life-altering experiences to turn them into reality.

After high school, Liz initially veered in a different direction. She majored in English, determined to be a writer. Her love for storytelling took her across the world to India, where she spent time living and working, thinking she'd one day write books that mattered. However, what she witnessed there, the rawness of life and the lack of access to even the most basic healthcare, reshaped her perspective.

Liz worked in a maternity hospital in Kashmir, where she faced harrowing scenes. There was the constant threat of violence, the pungent smells of under-resourced facilities, and an overwhelming absence of safety. "I realized I didn't want to write about life and death. I want to be in the thick of it, helping and healing," Liz shares. That's when she knew nursing was her calling.

Returning to the United States, Liz poured herself into her studies and began the rigorous path toward becoming a nurse. She would eventually earn her master's degree and become a Clinical Nurse Specialist. Liz started her career in pediatric intensive care, including time at a major children's hospital where she cared for terminally ill children. That experience awakened her true passion for end of life care.

"I found meaning in the quiet intimacy of end-of-life moments. Seeing that I can be more than a caregiver, that I can become a companion, an advocate, and a witness," Liz says.

When she and her husband Tom relocated to Colorado, Liz began working for a hospice organization, entering homes and seeing firsthand how people were spending their final days. Again and again, she was reminded of the vision she'd had as a teenager: small, home-like settings where people could pass in peace. Eventually, that vision would become reality.

Together with Tom, who brought financial expertise and entrepreneurial drive, they opened their first assisted living home. They lived in the basement, raised their young children upstairs, and cared for patients on the main floor. The Littletons didn't launch a business. They built a mission.

The idea behind Lighthouse Assisted Living is that people deserve to pass away the way they lived, surrounded by familiarity, comfort, and respect. In each Lighthouse home, residents are treated as people and not numbers or case files, honored for who they are and how they've lived. Liz and her team focus on highly personalized care, catering to individual needs, memories, and preferences. Whether baking with a resident who once loved to cook or creating a quiet space for someone nearing the end, the goal is to restore humanity to a time of life that is too often stripped of it.

Liz's work continued to evolve. She began to notice another gap in care. Many families were desperate to relocate their loved ones closer to home for end-of-life care, but the cost and complexity of long-distance medical transportation made it nearly impossible. She heard stories of families being quoted outrageous amounts just to bring a parent from one state to another.

One day, when a family reached out to her for help moving a mother from Florida to Colorado, Liz simply said, "I'll do it." She charged only for the cost of the trip and delivered the woman personally, with care and dignity. That experience shaped a new mission.

Soon, word spread, and the requests kept coming. A single act of kindness turned into the Specialty Transportation Concierge, a full-fledged service. STC provides long-distance, non-emergency relocation for individuals with medical needs. Liz and her team handle each journey with personalized, compassionate care, supporting those with complex conditions like dementia, mobility limitations, or incontinence. All with the end goal of keeping families together.

Both Lighthouse and STC were born from Liz's deep empathy, her refusal to look away from suffering, and her relentless commitment to "do something about it." Together, they form a network of care that fills in the gaps that traditional systems too often ignore.

"I think what we do helps me sleep at night," Liz says. "Even on the hardest days, the days I want to cry or pull my hair out, I never question if I'm doing the right thing. I've worked in this field long enough to know that what we provide isn't common. And that's exactly why I keep doing it. I'm where I'm supposed to be."