It started with a phone call. A call that no parent wants to receive. Christine’s daughter, Nina, a college student here in Providence, was very ill and in excruciating pain at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Christine was more than 7,000 miles away, working as a hospital manager on Kwajalein, a Pacific island. She made that long, arduous journey, across multiple time zones to reach her daughter. When she finally got to Nina’s bedside, Christine was physically and emotionally exhausted. She needed care herself. She needed rest and comfort.
Nina’s illness struck without warning. Nina was in such agony, her college roommates rushed her to the emergency room at Rhode Island Hospital. Nina was in the hospital for 10 days. “We had many ups and downs,” Christine says today. But Ronald McDonald House provided a constant port in the middle of a storm. “I am eternally grateful.”
“The House allowed me to stay clean and fed…I was able to gain respite in a cup of coffee or tea, and talk to some of your very kind volunteers…All in all, I feel truly blessed to have been able to receive the kind of love that the Ronald McDonald House donors and volunteers give to the families of critically ill children being treated in the area hospitals.”
Nina is doing well. She’s back in class and thriving and Christine is back at work. They are grateful for the compassion they received at RMH Providence.