Our appreciation for the Ronald McDonald house started in 2018 when our son, James, was born with an unknown medical condition that made him unable to breathe on his own. He was immediately transferred to Dayton Children’s where he stayed for 5 days. There they discovered a Congenital Heart Defect, a portion of his right pulmonary artery was missing. This discovery led to James being transferred to Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center.

James was diagnosed with Congenital Absence of Right Pulmonary Artery and had 2 heart catheterization and open heart surgery before he was 6 weeks old.

During this time of uncertainty my husband and I spent every day at the hospital with our newborn while our almost two-year-old was spending time with family 1.5 to 3 hours away. About a week and a half after arriving at Cincinnati Children’s we were granted the use of a room in the Ronald McDonald House that could be our home away from home. After moving rooms every night in the hospital or sleeping in an upright chair, this was such a huge blessing to our family. Eventually we were also allowed to have our daughter stay with us and his big sister was finally able to visit her baby brother 3 weeks after he was born.

After 50 days in the hospital, James was released on Mother’s Day. We were so happy to bring our family of four home for the first time in nearly 2 months. A few months later, James was still not eating without the assistance of a feeding tube which lead to the discovery for the need for another heart catheterization which meant an overnight stay for all of us. It was such a welcome relief when we were able to receive a short term room the night before his surgery. This was the first time James himself got to stay at the House and he even got to donate the tabs in person.

We called Ronald McDonald House home for 35 days.

We will forever be grateful for the comfort and stability they provided our family in undoubtedly the darkest time in our life. We even celebrated my daughters second birthday there. We collect our tabs and regularly donate to the Ronald McDonald House whenever we can. We can never thank them enough!

James is the nephew of our own Josh Ross.

This is one of the reasons why donating tabs is important to Ruese Insurance Group.