What brought you all to Cincinnati for medical care?

We came to Cincinnati for our five-year-old son, Vincent, who has cerebral palsy, to undergo Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery. This procedure can help to improve muscle tightness and spasms for children with cerebral palsy. SDR requires specialized training and is not offered at the major hospital systems near our home, which is how we found our way to Cincinnati.

What would you want people who donate to our House to know about their donations and how they help families in the House?

I would want donors to understand the depth of their generosity. That a donation made isn’t simply dollars, or snacks, or toys, but it’s the experience that’s actually gifted. For many, RMH is a home away from home during a challenging time, and donations make that home possible. As a family with a disabled child, we have had our fair share of hospital stays/ medical treatment. This procedure was by far our largest feat and was something that we have contemplated for years due to its extensive recovery. RMH made something so daunting feel manageable. Our surgical date happened to fall just before Christmas, which increased our stress. How could we provide a “magical” holiday under these circumstances? 

As a platform, the amenities at RMH made this, what seemed like impossible hospitalization, one of our most seamless. With previous hospitalizations I have never felt comfortable leaving my son to go home to rest. The thought of being even 15/20 minutes from the hospital never felt like an option. By having walking proximity, it allowed me to etch out time to rest (and I actually did rest a bit!), which in turn, helped everything to feel manageable. 

The amenities offered allowed us, as parents, to have basic self-care during the duration of Vincent’s hospitalization. As a parent, we often put our own needs behind our children’s, but RMH made it easy to provide for yourself while you are taking care of your family. Removing the mental load of deciding what to eat meant that I didn’t skip meals when that process became one more thing to think about versus something easy to pop over and grab. To boot, each meal was balanced and satisfying, which was so much better than the foods typically offered in a hospital cafeteria or via DoorDash. We were so grateful for this offering. 

If you’ve ever showered in a hospital bathroom, I don’t need to explain further the value of having a place in proximity of the hospital to take a proper shower/ change clothes. This small notion is one that provides such great comfort and can make you feel like a human again, despite being in the middle of hospital chaos. In taking shifts, my husband and I were able to return to our son refreshed and energized and I truly believe this helped in aide his recovery. Throughout all past hospitalizations, I have never returned home after discharge with a feeling of stability, like I did this time. Historically, it has always been such a long period of recovery time to come back from the sleep, nutritional, and emotional deprivation that felt inevitable. RMH gifted us with the ability to find balance and to ultimately feel like a stronger support system for our son.

Beyond providing for basic needs, RMH managed to make our holiday season so special and memorable. I had been so underprepared for Christmas for my kids. I was so grateful for the opportunity to participate in the special gift event where volunteers so graciously helped me choose gifts for both of my children and then offered to wrap/ hand deliver the gifts for Christmas Eve. This was SO helpful!! I was so touched and relieved.

Vincent ended up being discharged from the hospital early due to his progress. The team felt comfortable allowing him to stay overnight with us at RMH instead of at the hospital, so we could plan for travel back home on Christmas Eve. As a tech enthusiast, Vincent was in awe of the game room. All areas were accessible to him with his wheelchair, and he felt so special choosing a toy from the closet and making “secret” hot chocolate from the fancy coffee machine in the back hallway. He wrote a letter to Santa in the special Santa maildrop box and commented on all the beautiful Christmas lights filling the inside and outside of RMH. These small details helped RMH to feel like a home. It was such a getaway from the inevitable sterility of the hospital setting, and covered in Christmas lights, it was pretty magical in the eyes of a five-year-old. 

The set up of the room allowed wheelchair accessibility and the space needed for me to bathe/ do post-surgical wound care for Vincent comfortably, like we would at home. We watched a Christmas movie before bed and then as we were saying goodnight, Vincent looked at us, sighed, and said “Wow, that was the best vacation ever,” which may be the biggest testimony to the true impact that RMH has. The joys of Vincent’s experience at RMH overshadowed his PICU stay, surgical pain, etc., and turned this into a core memory for all of us. 

When we needed to return next week for Vincent’s surgical follow up, he was so excited to show his 3-year-old brother, Benny, around. Benny stayed with family back home during Vincent’s hospital stay and it was one of the hardest parts of the whole experience. Watching our boys giggle endlessly in the playroom, with Benny zooming Vincent through the tunnel under the slide, warming every fiber in our body. The boys loved the craft room and bonded while spending time with Pet Therapy pup, Moose. 

To say that RMH exceeded our expectations would be an understatement. The details, amenities, and support that are possible because of generous donors and extraordinary volunteers, are the most incredible gifts to a family like ours.

Without Cincinnati’s Ronald McDonald House, everything would have been different for our family. Our son’s hospitalization wouldn’t have felt like a vacation in his eyes. 🙂 Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts! – Jane, Vincent’s mom