Luka came from Albania for life-saving care. Read what his mom, Bethany, shared about this journey:

“We came to the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati after learning our son had a life-threatening condition that could only be treated at a fetal care center. Cincinnati Children’s was the first hospital to be willing to evaluate our case. We left our home in Albania within a week and flew to Cincinnati not knowing what the future held. The House cared for us so well during the last year by providing us a home and a soft place to land as we transitioned our life to the USA for the time being.

RMH has truly become our home away from home and that means everything when it feels like your life has been turned upside down.

RMH is much more than just a place to stay. It has been a warm shower after a long day in the hospital, it has been a cup of coffee on the way to morning rounds, it’s been a delicious meal that keeps us healthy so we can focus on our son, it is a place that allowed me to rest and heal after surgery, it’s been a place that has supported moms by providing breast pumps and freezers for breastmilk, it has been a good night sleep, a place to cry, a place to call the insurance company, a safe place to bring our son to after being discharged, to get all our dialysis supplies delivered to, it’s been new friends that have helped us walk this path when it seemed scary, it’s the joy that picking out a toy for your child brings, a place to get mail from friends far away, a place to breathe away from the beeping machines, a place that allows us to order Amazon boxes and medical supplies with items to make life easier, a place for family to visit and spend time with Luka. But above all these things, RMH is a place that has given our family TIME. More time together. More time with our son. Time to adjust to our new normal without added stress. Time to play and dance and enjoy each day. We will always be thankful for how RMH cared for our family in so many ways.

Your donation goes to help advance the healing of families who are fighting to care for their children with complex medical diagnoses. I have found that becoming a caregiver to a medically complex child quickly becomes a full-time job. It is hard to have extra energy to think about things like cooking and having a long commute to the hospital. Having RMH allowed us to focus on our son which played a huge role in helping him not only make it out of the NICU but thrive. He was given no chance at life when diagnosed. Then after coming to Cincinnati, he was given a 50% chance. Now he is a happy 9-month-old who is doing better than anyone imagined! We were able to connect with other families in a similar situation at RMH. It was hard to connect with other patients in the hospital system where there are many protections in place. Thankfully, we found some community at RMH.

While the hospital cares for the physical needs of patients, RMH cares for everything else. Your donations will directly impact families who are in a boat no person imagines they will be in. Your donations help alleviate the burdens that come with having a child in the hospital. Thank you!

Without Cincinnati’s Ronald McDonald House, our family wouldn’t have been able to fight for our son together. We know our son wouldn’t be doing as well as he is without RMH, which allowed both my husband and I to be close to him during his four-month NICU stay and long transition home. We experienced much less stress because of RMH, and this helped our son in more ways than one!” – Bethany, Luka’s mom