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Audrey’s Children

More than 38 years after the founding of the first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia,

the dream of Dr. Audrey Evans, to create a home away from home for families traveling to receive critical care for their child, lives on at 322 Ronald McDonald Houses around the world. The programs help millions of children every year facing the weight of illness or injury by giving them perhaps the best medicine of all, their families.

Among those millions, are Naomi and Alina, two little girls who have found the kind of family-centered care, proven to help them heal, at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia, the House that started it all.

Naomi and Alina are best friends. Each morning, as soon as Alina wakes up, she asks her mom, ‘are we going to see Naomi today?’ At the other end of the hallway, Naomi asks her mom the same.

“They don’t care what they’re doing as long as they are together,” says Naomi’s mom, Natalie.

The bond they share as best friends is a little more impressive than most, because they don’t speak the same language. While Naomi and her mom, Natalie traveled from upstate New York to receive care for Naomi’s cancer, Alina and her mom, Liz, traveled from Puerto Rico to combat Alina’s liver divease. Naomi speaks English. Alina speaks Spanish. But somehow they understand each other perfectly.

 “Even though they speak different languages, Noami and Alina always know what each other want,” explains Liz. “I don’t know how they do it, but they do. And it’s a beautiful thing.”

When Dr. Evans had the idea for the first Ronald McDonald House – she envisioned such bonds – such family extensions, friendships and support networks that would cross language, geographic and economic barriers. When pain and fear; uncertainty and unknown are the topics of conversation, the divisions disappear and the kind of friends that can help you heal are made.

The girls’ mothers have also become very close during their stay, something that has made a challenging time more manageable for each of them. “It is easier when you have someone to talk to, when you are not isolated,” says Natalie. 

Liz thinks so, too. “The weight is not just on one person.  The weight is easier when it is over a couple people.”

The healing support networks and bonds that are prevalent within the walls of a Ronald McDonald House are complemented by all the other services the House provides, making it as close to home as possible: a gym, laundry room, colorful play areas, stocked pantries, and quiet spaces to reflect. Families have all the conveniences and more of being at home, even though they are far from it.  

Dr. Evans legacy lives on in the millions of children finding the healing benefits of holistic, family-centered care at Ronald McDonald Houses and Ronald McDonald Family Rooms around the world. And children like Naomi and Alina couldn’t be more grateful.

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