“I have been asked to write a testimonial of the impact of our stay at the Ronald McDonald House. This is an impossible task. I cannot put into words the impact of our stay on our family. I will try my best to explain, but my words do not fully describe the feelings in my heart.
We spent over 300 nights at RMHC. We met the most wonderful employees, volunteers, and families at the house. We were going through the most stressful times of our lives. We were giving everything we had to take care of our son and had no capacity left to take care of ourselves. RMHC took care of that for us. We were provided food and accommodations so close to the hospital. This helped us focus on our son when he needed us the most. Our precious child deserved as much of our attention as we could and the gift of that time is invaluable.
My son has been airlifted to the hospital 3 times. The toughest time he coded shortly after we arrived. Code blue. He was not breathing enough on his own to survive. I was in the trauma room with him while they were working to get him breathing. He was intubated and once he was stable enough he was moved to the PICU. RMHC was there for us and took care of us. I was not prepared to be away from home. We were provided toiletries and everything we needed to get by. I cannot say thank you enough for this kindness and help when my family was going through those terrible times. I can’t imagine trying to sort out how to take care of myself after such a traumatic day.
As my son’s health improved we made so many special memories. My son took his first steps in the playroom at the Calgary house. We made lifelong friends. We shared stories with other families about the ups and downs of life with a disabled child. My son and I would run to the grocery store to get the latest craving for a beautiful child enduring chemotherapy. Another family would take my son for walks so I could make lunch. It’s a special community of people that we never knew existed but now we are thankful to have RMHC as a part of our journey.
The doctors worked on a treatment that would allow us to return home but it was not successful. They gave us the bad news that we weren’t able to live away from a children’s hospital. My son is stable but requires ongoing treatment. We were thankful that we had a safe place to stay while we figured out what that looked like for our family. We decided that we would move to Calgary. Once again, RMHC was there for us. We were staying at the RMHC Calgary and looking to make Calgary our home. We found a place and said our goodbyes to the most special place we have ever lived.
RMHC is a ray of sunshine that helped us through the storm of raising our son. It helped us through the good days and the bad days. We are forever grateful.”
-Lisa Jensen