Jonathan's Story
We’ve been coming to the Ronald McDonald House for five years. The House has been Jonathan’s home for as long as he can remember. When we go back to Kennewick, Jonathan wants to be here. The hospital and the Ronald McDonald House are his family.
Ronald McDonald House provided us with a place to heal. The people here helped us and gave us stability. We first stayed at the House after Jonathan’s first liver transplant. We had planned on staying in our 5th wheel camper, where our family, including Jonathan’s two older sisters, had all stayed when he initially was diagnosed with liver cancer at age one.
When we had to return for a second liver transplant two years later, the House was a lifesaver. The match was perfect, but within days, all of his organs began shutting down. We stayed at the House waiting for his kidneys to begin working. Jonathan was days away from dying when he had his third transplant—the first pediatric mismatched blood type transplant at Children’s Hospital. Jonathan was in and out of the hospital for three months and there was no way we could have stayed in the camper without heat.
We returnted to Seattle for treatments twice a week for over six months. It’s a four-and-a-half hour drive each way, so I don’t know what we would have done without the House. We had doctors’ bills totaling thousands and thousands of dollars and my husband was working long hours to keep us afloat.
This experience has taught us patience. It is horrifying to be on a rollercoaster, not knowing what will happen next—seeing your child poked and sliced as doctors try to find a way to make him better. There’s not another case in the world like Jonathan’s and now researchers are following what happens with him.
The House is again our home as we wait for Jonathan’s next treatment. Thanks to the House, we were able to keep our family together. Without it, our family would have split and never bounced back.