Dad Loses Fight for Haunted House That Funds Hospice Care for Daughter with Rare Condition (Exclusive)

A California dad has temporarily lost the fight to keep a popular haunted house open, which helps fund hospice care for his 17-year-old daughter with a rare and serious health condition. 

Earlier this month, Augie Cowan, a 57-year-old retired psychiatric technician, announced that the Caitlin Manor Haunted House had been shut down by the city of San Bernardino.

For more than a decade, the attraction has welcomed guests in the weeks leading up to Halloween in order to help cover medical care costs for his daughter Andrea, who has metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), a rare genetic condition that causes a decline in motor and mental function, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

“There were some structural problems with the building. So, even if I were to fix that permit, they were not going to let me run the haunted house,” Augie tells PEOPLE following what was supposed to be the opening night on Friday, Oct. 3.

In a statement shared with Patch, the city of San Bernardino said that the closure was related to safety concerns.

“City inspectors identified electrical and access issues that would put people’s safety at risk,” the city said earlier this month, according to the outlet. “We will continue to work with [Cowan] to ensure their haunted house is both fun and safe.”

City officials did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

For Augie, this is just one battle in the fight for his daughter’s well-being. Andrea was diagnosed with the late infantile form of MLD when she was almost 3 years old, prompting her dad and mom Maria, a registered nurse, to take her to Italy for a clinical trial.

Although they made it to Italy, she was still asymptomatic at the time so she wasn’t able to participate. However, shortly after returning home, she got “really sick,” according to her father.

“She could still talk, but she couldn’t walk, and couldn’t hardly move,” says Augie.

Although there is no cure for MLD and treatment is “mainly supportive,” her dad believes that the care they’ve given Andrea has helped her survive longer than doctors initially expected.

Babies who are diagnosed with the infantile form of the condition usually die by age 5, according to the Cleveland Clinic, while juvenile MLD can cause “intellectual decline, behavioral difficulties, seizures and dementia” and “typically results in death 10 to 20 years following diagnosis.”

He and his wife, who also share a 21-year-old son, began the haunted house at their own home a few years after Andrea was diagnosed with MLD.

Since then, there have been a few locations for the haunted house, with the scare-centric tradition becoming a tradition for many locals in San Bernardino. After two years of not running the haunted house, they had hoped this year would mark the grand opening of the current Caitlin Manor location.

Still, although Augie has had to navigate issues with code enforcement and unruly visitors over the years, he says the headaches have been worth it.

Andrea’s care can cost up to $20,000 a year, which the haunted manor helps cover. Additionally, with the money they’ve raised, the Cowans were able to upgrade her room to better accommodate her needs and buy a van. 

Fortunately, Andrea, who has been in hospice care for five years now, is “pretty comfortable” and “not really in pain,” says Augie, who serves as his daughter’s primary caretaker and has launched a GoFundMe to cover this year’s expenses.

Her dad dreams of finding a new building so they can reopen the haunted house and one day hopes to start a foundation that will support other families with haunted houses around the country. 

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For now, Andrea’s happiness keeps him centered.

“She has a very content, happy look on her face,” says Augie of interacting with his now-nonverbal daughter. “When I get home, she’ll turn her head and look for me.”

He says that when he hugs her, “She’ll be very happy, and she’ll fall sound asleep, like she feels safe.”