Jacob Robik’s family has owned four McDonald’s Restaurants in the Susanville/Redding area for 30 years. He remembers the Ronald McDonald House Charities donation canisters on the counter from his childhood and helping the nearby Camp Ronald McDonald at Eagle Lake, often providing much-needed supplies and assistance. Jacob, who has worked for the family business for 11 years and is currently the Operations Manager, was familiar with the Ronald McDonald House in Sacramento but as he says, “You just don’t know how valuable the House is until you need it.” Jacob’s six-year-old daughter Adelyn’s cancer journey began on April 26th, 2019, when she had extreme pain in her thigh leading her parents to take her to the local emergency room. At first, the doctors thought it was growing pains, however at the insistence of Adelyn’s mother she was given a CT scan and a tumor was found growing in her hip. Feeling shocked, Adelyn’s parents were referred to the UC Davis Pediatric Oncology Department in Sacramento. On May 5th, 2019 Adelyn and her parents went to their appointment at UC Davis where she was diagnosed with Sarcoma Cancer.
Still in shock, with the thought of “how could this happen to them”, the family of four had challenges people don’t think about like – How will we afford a hotel room in addition to all the medical expenses? How will our family be able to be together during this time? Will I have to sleep in a car to be close to my daughter during treatment? That is when Jacob remembered the Ronald McDonald House in Sacramento, located directly across the street from the UC Davis medical facility. Jacob called Catherine, the CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern California and booked their family to stay at the House during Adelyn’s treatments. Jacob remembers an immense amount of relief. “It is amazing how little things like a nice place to stay, not worrying about the cost and being together as a family mean so much during a time like this.” Jacob said he appreciated how clean the facility was – much nicer than any hotel, and it felt like a home, with comforts such as a kitchen, playroom, game room and family room. He remembers being with his other daughter, Ariana, who was nine years old, outside in the large play area, watching her and thinking how nice it was to have these moments. In total, the Robiks stayed at the House four times for a total of 15 days.
As of today, Adelyn has been cancer free for six months!!! She is looking forward to going to school (she missed kindergarten due to treatment) and playing sports again. Her favorite sports are gymnastics, softball, and soccer. Jacob is close to becoming a McDonald’s franchise owner himself and plans to be actively connected to RMHCNC. He knows from firsthand experience that “there is no measurement for the stress that RMHCNC takes off families.”