Featured Stories
Have you or someone you love used a Ronald McDonald House or Ronald McDonald Family Room? Share your story with us!
Derek's Second Heart
When Dena was 18 weeks pregnant, doctors told us that our son, Derek, would be born with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome, meaning his left ventricle was underdeveloped, and he would need a heart transplant at birth.
At four and a half weeks old, Derek’s first new heart beat in his tiny body on May 31, 1996. Through the entire transplant and recovery, we stayed at the Ronald McDonald House. For thirteen years, that heart continued to beat and Derek lived as any other teenage boy, playing baseball, going to school and hanging out with friends.
Then, after a routine check-up revealed Derek had coronary artery disease. Doctors then performed a heart catheter and Derek’s heart stopped during the procedure. Derek now needed a second heart transplant to survive.
Over the years, we can’t remember how many countless times we have called the Ronald McDonald House “home” through multiple check-ups at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. We have grown so incredibly close to families and found comfort in the warm meals the dinner groups cook. Without being so close to the hospital as we waited for the heart pager to go off, we wouldn’t be able to make it in time to the hospital from home, which is over two hours away. That or we would be faced with mounting hotel bills.
Over the next two months while we waited for a heart at the Ronald McDonald House, Derek couldn’t run, walk up more than a few stairs, and he had to wear a life vest defibrillator to monitor and shock his heart in case of heart failure.
Relaxing in the living room of our Ronald McDonald House apartment after a trip to the St. Louis Science Center, we received a call that a heart was available for Derek. But we only had one hour to get to St. Louis Children’s Hospital. After several hours and just two hours before Derek surgery was to begin, doctors passed on the heart.
A few days after this disappointing day, we got to go to a St. Louis Cardinal’s game because of someone donating tickets to the House. This seemed to cheer everyone up quite a bit!
We soon got an offer on a second heart. The next day, after hours of waiting, Derek’s new, perfect heart beat in his chest for the first time. Derek has many weeks of recovery ahead of him, but so far, he is doing great.
Through something like this you experience elation and sadness at the same time. You are elated at this gift of life to your child and then the feeling creeps in that someone lost their child to make this gift a reality.
If we ever win the lottery, we would donate so much money to the Ronald McDonald House. We can’t express how much it has meant to us.
Derek and Dena Pritchett, Cuba, MO
One Step at a Time
Feeling on top of the world with pride and excitement, Evin bounced along on the riding lawn mower as he helped his grandfather cut the grass. When the two finished, five-year-old Evin jumped unexpectedly off the lawn mower, only to miss his grandfather’s arms.
Evin tumbled off the lawn mower and his foot caught under the blade—slicing almost entirely through.
His parents, Nick and Wendi Valdez, raced Evin to the nearest hospital in Herrin, Illinois. Doctors predicted Evin’s foot would need to be amputated and made the decision to send Evin by helicopter to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis. However, Cardinal Glennon surgeons and medical staff were determined to save Evin’s foot.
They did just that. During the first of eight surgeries, doctors removed a quarter of Evin’s heel, cleaned out all dirt and grass, and braced his foot. During the next three surgeries doctors clipped dead tissue and continued to clean out the heel. Doctors used artificial skin and a skin graft from Evin’s thigh for the fifth surgery to help regenerate skin growth.
During Evin’s surgeries and recovery, the Valdez’s stayed close to Cardinal Glennon at the Ronald McDonald House on Park Avenue. The family was relieved by having a place to sleep, meals to eat cooked by the RMHC dinner groups, and other families to bond with.
“It has just been awesome to stay here,” Nick said. “It is so comfortable with wonderful staff and volunteers. Sometimes you forget there are still people out there who are so nice and willing to help other people in their time of need.”
Evin remained bedridden for nearly two weeks during and after his surgeries. He then progressed to a wheelchair and then a walker. The little boy who was supposed to lose his foot spent his last weeks at the Ronald McDonald House playing, laughing and running around the House with his brother, Tyce, and other children staying at the House.
“Tyce helped Evin come a long way,” Nick said. “Tyce was also on the lawn mower that day and saw the whole thing happen. He is very protective of his brother and would spend hours sitting on Evin’s hospital bed coloring with him.”
Without the Ronald McDonald House, the Valdez’s know it would have been harder to stay close to Evin because of not knowing anyone in St. Louis and the high cost of hotel rooms.
Evin never let the surgeries or recovery get him down. “Evin never asked, ‘Why me?’” Nick said. “He took it all in stride with a smile on his face."
The Valdez family is now home in Pueblo, Colorado, and Evin continues to get better. The family plans to find the nearest Ronald McDonald House and prepare a meal for families to give back.
“We once had to stay at the Ronald McDonald House and they helped us when we needed it the most,” Nick said. “It is so rewarding to improve the quality of someone else’s life.”
Nick coaches all of Evin’s little league sports and remains certain Evin will return to football and all the fun activities of childhood soon. Maybe most importantly, this incident proved to the Valdez’s that no one should take family for granted.
“I learned to cherish my family always and live each day to the fullest,” Nick said. “Everything happens for a reason, and the last few months have put everything into perspective for our family.”
