Meet Lucas
Lucas was diagnosed with epilepsy and hypothyroidism last October. When he was 20 months old we had a very scary incident, I found him unconscious around 5 am and brought him to the hospital; he did not react for more than an hour. After that episode, he would constantly have absence crisis. I started to do research online for the best ranking hospitals for neurology and endocrinology. Boston Children’s Hospital had everything we wanted.
We had many fears and anxieties once we decided that Boston Children’s Hospital was the perfect place for Lucas; we started to look for hotels and airline tickets from Dominican Republic to Boston and they were very expensive. We were originally scheduled to stay for 2 weeks and the minimum rate we could find was around $2000. It was too much; we had to pay out of pocket for Lucas’ medical expenses since he doesn’t have insurance. We were blessed to be able to apply to the Ronald McDonald House at Boston Harbor and it was heaven sent. A week later we received an email telling us they had availability and our prayers were answered.
I came to Boston with my son Lucas and both of my parents; we were supposed to check out of RMH on March 24th, however due to Covid-19, we were not able to return home. Our government closed all borders on March 19th at 6:00am and due to Lucas’ appointments we were unable to make it back in time. We were scared, anxious and now we were wondering what to do in regards to finding housing in Boston. We were not prepared to pay the expenses of a hotel for an unknown period of time. I wrote an email to RMH explaining our circumstances, they assured us that we could stay until it was safe to go back home. We cannot even believe that this is real. It made us feel so loved and grateful because we had no idea what to do. It is certainly a home away from home.
Ronald McDonald House is more than we expected. It has truly been a home away from home for us. Lucas is happy and plays all day long. We love walking around the harbor and Lucas loves the park nearby.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You have given us the peace, love and comfort we need to get through this uncertain and difficult time.