Our son Oliver was born September 14th, 2012 with a rare chromosome imbalance. He had a feeding tube, ended up getting a g-tube and had to sleep with a c-pap at night to help his little lungs stay inflated. He went through a lot of medical issues but he was just the happiest boy. He ended up staying three months in the NICU. During that time, we felt so lucky and blessed that we were able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House, just a short walk to the hospital. Staying there made it possible for us to be by our son’s side and we didn’t have to worry.
We were two hours away from the hospital and that’s a long drive back and forth. I don’t even know what we would have done without the House.
We were able to bring Oliver home from the NICU on December 13, 2012. It was so exciting to walk through the doors of our house and to have him with us!
Oliver was the happiest little boy. For a child that was going through so much pain and difficult physical limitations, you wouldn’t know it by how quickly you could get a smile out of him. To hear Oliver laugh, made your day.
Oliver had to undergo surgery in November 2014. There were some complications during the surgery and Oliver passed away. It was and is the hardest thing we have ever had to deal with and go through, but there are ways to cope and grieve, and one of the blessings we had and where we found peace, was the Ron
ald McDonald House. As we think about Oliver who was just 26 months old when he passed away, we cherish the three months with him in the NICU. Every second was valuable.
Every year on December 13th, we gather up toys and we go to the Ronald McDonald House and drop them off in honor of Oliver and make it a special day.
We feel like the Ronald McDonald House truly was a miracle for our family because they helped us survive during the most difficult time in our lives. When our son was in the hospital, all we were thinking about was making sure that he was ok, and what his needs were, and the Ronald McDonald House made sure WE were ok. We ha
d a place to sleep; a place to take a shower; the little things that you don’t realize are so important. You don’t think, “Where am I going to do laundry?” when you’re not close to home. They have a kitchen where we were able to make meals at night because it’s hard going out to eat and you can’t afford going out to eat that much. They have pantries that people in the community donate food and we could use that food to eat and make dinner. People would come in and make or bring meals during the week which was really nice and there are people that do incredible things!
So as you think about areas that you want to put your support behind, there is no greater cause that we can think of that we have personally benefited from than the Ronald McDonald House.
