I made a promise some time ago. This is the year I am able to make good on it. You see, Ronald McDonald House in Seattle was my home for awhile. Our family spent one Christmas there, as guests. I promised the people there, that one day, our family would give back. That promise was made over 5 years ago.
A Christmas at Ronald McDonald House in Seattle
At the time, I thought the charity was a kind gesture, that our family would be in and out of a medical crises in no time. It was not to be the case though we certainly had a shorter stint with hospitalization issues than many families that I met that had been at the Seattle Ronald McDonald House for over 4 years.
To be at Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Seattle, requires that a family have an ill child at Seattle Children’s Hospital. That’s it. The suggested cost for a family to stay at RMH is $30 a night. No family, however, is turned down if they cannot afford to stay there. The actual cost to house a family there is closer to $135 a night. I was there for about 2 months and would go on to stay several months more at a Ronald McDonald house in Portland, Oregon.
How ill was my child, you may ask. Well, as with all families staying in hospitals and at Ronald McDonald House, privacy and confidentiality is of utmost importance. I guard my family’s privacy with vigor. I can say, however, that my child had a 4 hour pass to visit our family at Ronald McDonald House on Christmas Day. Most of the children in the hospital that day, including some of the terminally ill babies, had an overnight pass. The four hours was about the most time our child was allowed away from the hospital when the illness our family was dealing with was at its worst, eventually requiring more specialized treatment at other facilities in other states. But I digress…
I will never be able to thank Ronald McDonald House enough for what they did for our family. Or the physicians at Seattle Children’s Hospital that have a fund set up to help families in financial need dealing with a medical crisis. Or the employees at the bus garage at the Sequim School District who gave my husband some of their sick leave so he could travel to see our family away from home. Or the generosity of the Sequim School District who chose our family to receive financial support from a fund designed to help families in crises.
This Winter, my husband is working as a bus aid with the Sequim School District. He helps children with disabilities get on and off of buses. It is a substitute role and not a high paying job, however, the reward of being strong enough to help others is not lost on our family.
At some point, I lost track of expenses associated with our child’s medical treatment. After a half million dollars everything became kind of a blur. Luckily, medical insurance through a school district job was accepted throughout all of the treatment in three facilities. I spoke with our medical insurance company, often, for over two-thirds of a year. At the end of the hospitalizations, we celebrated.
The goal – always – was to get our child Home!
In Seattle, days and nights became mixed and I would often get back to Ronald McDonald House at around 2 AM after being at the hospital all day and most of the night. Me and many, many other parents.
It is the parents I remember most. We were as family. Walking around with ID tags hung around our necks with orange lanyards. I got to know their children. Held their babies, some of them dying.
There is not a parent I met at RMH that thought our child would not make it. Somehow, they knew wellness was in store for our family. As much as they knew this, in some cases, it was not meant to be for their own child. Yet, there was always hope.
The families staying at Ronald McDonald Houses live on hope.
Hope. Is the greatest gift.
Wally Walker and his family, watches movies with families at the RMH in Seattle. That is how I met him, and it was grand as he had been my childhood hero back when the Seattle Sonics won the NBA championship in the mid-1970’s. He was even more of my hero at Ronald McDonald House.
Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback, will likely never know how much his weekly Tuesday visits to Seattle Children’s Hospital means to the kids and families there. It brings them hope!
Sig Hansen and many of the crew from “Deadliest Catch” fame have also visited families at Ronald McDonald House in Seattle. Commercial fishing rock stars, those guys. Bringing further hope to sick kids.
Santa comes to Ronald McDonald House too (as well as to Seattle Children’s Hospital). Each child in each family, including all siblings, is given a monetary gift allowance. Parents can choose the kinds of gifts their children would like. The Christmas we stayed at RMH, our children were so well gifted! An oil paint set, a pirate ship Legos set…all donated items. Volunteers shop for each child’s specific wishes. Christmas morning, kids were playing with remote control cars and other toys in the dining hall, the weight of dealing with illness momentarily alleviated. Illness in a family is very hard on siblings too. Parents are relieved that their monetary resources can go into other more pressing needs. Like house payments and gas money. My husband and I were relieved.
Organizations cook meals for families at Ronald McDonald House in Seattle on many evenings. There is also a food pantry that is well-stocked. Well-equipped kitchens, a secure parking garage, computer room, a video library, tickets to local attractions such as zoos and local sporting events are also available. All donated.
I remember the kindness of the volunteers. The lady that came to RMH in Seattle on Christmas Day with her therapy dog. Children, including mine, comforted as many had left pets behind at home. The beautiful, well-dressed woman had recovered from an illness many years before, similar to the one our child was dealing with at the time, and was giving back. Fires were lit in the lobby, Christmas trees decorated. Everything clean. (So many kids at Ronald McDonald Houses have a compromised immune system). So many gifts given to our family and others there too that now can be seen in full color.
In the midst of serious illness, the world becomes visions of gray tempered by worry, fear, and lack of sleep.
Life is in color for our family again. At home this year, Santa will most likely be bringing sports equipment. One of our children is now an adult. We are all well.
It is time to give back. To be a presence for those that are living life in a fog. To help give them the gift of hope.
One day at home in Sequim, within a year of our families experience dealing with a severe illness, I received a phone call from the Seattle Ronald McDonald House. They were passing on word, at the request of a family that we had spent part of our Christmas with, that their child had passed away. The family had returned to their home in Alaska. The other day, I went through the dozens of pictures I have of my time spent at two Ronald McDonald Houses. A series of photos show me holding that baby. I remember his mother asking me, on Christmas Eve, while I was holding her son, “He has touched you, hasn’t he?” “Yes”, I replied, “he has touched me.” The baby smiled. His parents smiled, and his grandparents smiled. You can see it in the pictures.
Everyone in our family is strong and well now. Strong and able to give back. This Christmas Season, we sent a small monetary gift to East House (a Ronald McDonald House that was once our temporary home) in Portland, Oregon. Enough for a family to stay there for one night. We invite you, as the spirit moves you, to make a contribution to the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle, Washington (or to any RMH of your choosing). I cannot begin to tell you how much your gift will mean to the families and children staying there. I can tell you, that for them, your gift will mean hope. I can tell you with absolute certainty that for them, hope is the greatest gift of all! This is their web-site:
http://www.rmhcseattle.org
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