A little more than two years ago we went through a pretty tough time. One of our sons experienced some unexplained seizures that were, um, really scary. Really. Scary.

Our Son AJ (@Play4theWorld) and a wonderful volunteer making music in the hospital.

A huge medical investigation ensued involving multiple hospitalizations and just about every test in the doctor’s handbook. Even a few tests that were so new they weren’t in the handbook.

We spent weeks at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL. All Children’s is one of those places that’s hard to describe. The staff and facilities are exceptional. They took great care of us and were persistent in trying to figure out what was going on.

If it weren’t for the obvious, you could even call the hospital “nice”. But it is a hospital… and a children’s one at that. Nothing could hide the fact that the rooms were full of kids. Sick kids. You never walked far in these halls without seeing the face of a parent one step away from full panic mode. Especially if there were any mirrors en route.

They never really totally figured out what was going on, but our young man was treated for a few issues that might have been working together to cause the seizures and he’s been better for a couple of years now.

{Thank You, Lord!}

Forever Grateful to Ronald McDonald House

St. Pete is about 90 minutes from our home in Punta Gorda so we weren’t really able to commute much. We probably could have but neither Tim or I were able to be an hour and a half away and stay sane. So we stayed at the hospital.

Of course we had heard of Ronald McDonald House Charities before, but we never really knew what they did or who they helped. We just knew it had to do with kids.

Now we know. Ronald McDonald House Charities operates facilities at or near Children’s Hospitals and other medical facilities in 57 countries around the world. The primary purpose of these facilities is to give families of hospitalized children a place to stay and rest so they can be near their child.

In our particular case there were two Ronald McDonald houses available. One was right in the hospital itself and the other, used for longer term stays, was just a block away. Both Houses were busy with families and volunteers.

I recall being struck by the thought that one could drive by this place every day and never realize the challenge the people inside are facing.

Ronald McDonald House - St. Petersburg

We were able to sleep right in the hospital room with our son and my mom and dad took our other son home with them, so we didn’t need the overnight accommodations. But we took advantage of the laundry facilities, the family rest areas much like a living room, and the small kitchen stocked with cereal, drinks, etc.

More than anything we took in the overwhelming reality of what was going on around us.

There were dozens of families staying in each house. Moms, Dads, and siblings. Each of them there because of two very challenging circumstances. First, they had a child who needed hospitalization for specialty care only available at a pediatric hospital… so a pretty big deal. And second, they didn’t have any such hospital close to home. They had to travel to get the help they needed.

Ronald McDonald House Charities helps these families cope with one of life’s biggest challenges by stepping up and taking care of the moms, dads, brothers, and sisters while the child/patient is being helped by the doctors and nurses.

We greatly appreciated the help they gave us. And we vowed to give back when we could.

Here is a video from Ronald McDonald House’s YouTube Channel that might help you see and feel some of what families go through and how they’re helped by this great organization.

Join With Us to Support Ronald McDonald House

Thanks to readers like you who help keep EverythingEtsy.com a busy place we are blessed to be in the position to give a little to this great organization and we’d love for you to join us!

To help magnify the voice of the handmade/vintage community, we would love to keep track of how many of you join with us in this effort and make it known that we are a community that cares.

Please go to Ronald McDonald House Charities and make a tax-deductible contribution online now.

If you’ve got a story about Ronald McDonald House or if you’ve made a contribution as a result of this blog post, please share in the comments below. Feel free to leave your comment anonymously if you prefer.

We’ll start with a contribution of $300.00 today which comes directly from the proceeds of ad sales here on EverythingEtsy.com

Thanks so much.

~ Kim & Tim (more about us)