The Ronald McDonald house beside Crumlin hospital gives families a base at little cost, writes BRIAN O'CONNELL
‘TO BE honest, if it wasn’t for this place, I would have been completely screwed,” says Natalie Coleman, a mother-of-two from Cork. We are sitting in the reception area of Ronald McDonald house, a modern two-storey building on the grounds of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.
The house was built six years ago and provides 20 dedicated rooms where families can come and stay when their children are receiving treatment in the hospital. Priority is given to those who have the longest distances to travel and whose children require prolonged or serious medical attention.
In the communal living room, Coleman’s son Ethan (9) is lying on a couch watching cartoons, taking time out from an intensive 28-day radiation treatment.
Coleman first noticed Ethan was ill when she was leaving hospital following the birth of her son Jack, who is now four months old. Ethan started vomiting, developed a fever and days later began walking with a limp. Within a fortnight, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer located in his hip and pelvis.
“Less than 5 per cent of those with cancer have this form of it,” says Coleman. “They started chemotherapy on him straight away, doing two courses of it, and they could see it wasn’t working. The tumour merely went from being a circle to being a balloon. Now we have started the ninth day of a 28-day session of radiotherapy and the hope is he will be operated on after that.”
The Ronald McDonald house provides Coleman and her family living space while they are in Dublin. The house cost €3.75 million to build six years ago, with the land licensed to the Ronald Mc Donald House Charity (RMHC) by the hospital. Last March, a second building was added.
The annual running costs for both houses are about €300,000 and this is covered from funds raised by families, staff and volunteers at the house. Collection boxes are placed in every McDonald’s outlet in the country and the fast-food company covers administration costs.
The house receives no funding or financial support from the hospital or the Government and the majority of staff are volunteers. Families are asked to make a small donation, often as little as €10 per night, towards their accommodation. “There is no way we could stay indefinitely in Dublin for Ethan’s radiation treatment without the support we have here,” says Coleman. “While I am in the hospital with Ethan, my family stays here with Jack. Besides the building, which has everything from a library to a TV room, the staff and the volunteers are unbelievable.”
Coleman says that if she needs to pop out to the shops or pick up a prescription, staff are on hand to keep an eye on Ethan. It also helps having other families going through similar situations to talk to.
Marian Carroll, the chief executive of the RMHC charity, says that while there is often a waiting list to get into the house, they try to accommodate those families most in need.
Isn’t there a contradiction in McDonald’s, which has been accused of contributing to children’s unhealthy eating habits, sponsoring an initiative such as this?
“What McDonald’s does and what they sell isn’t relevant to what is happening in the house here,” she says. “We are an independent charity. They don’t make a big song and dance and they do this work very quietly. We wouldn’t be here six years later, having facilitated in excess of 1,500 families, were it not for the support of the McDonald’s system.”
Several miles outside Cork city, the Coughlan family is preparing for a five-day stay in Dublin, also at the Ronald McDonald house. Their son, Conor (8) has to travel to Dublin every six months to receive treatment for a rare bone growth disorder.
The family has been using the house for several years and it allows mother Mary, father Con and sister Cliona (11) to be near Conor while he is treated. “I know this sounds clichéd, but it genuinely is like a home from home,” says Mary Coughlan. “You have your own bed, shower, fridge freezer and section in the kitchen. Some of the staff there will even come in and bake scones or make dinners. It’s great for us that we can have Cliona up there. In the hospital, no children are allowed.”
Over the past few years, the Coughlans have raised funds for the Ronald McDonald house by running mini-marathons and helping to organise local sporting events.
“When Conor went for his first operation, he met a girl in the house from Donegal having a similar operation,” says Mary Coughlan. “She was a great encouragement to Conor telling him what to expect, so in that way the house is really vital.”
See rmhc.ie for more information
