Since 1982, the Ronald McDonald House in South Florida has helped about 30,000 families, but some families are being turned away. Now local McDonald’s franchisee is working hard to change that.
10-year-old Zoe loves being in her daddy’s arms.
“When we were doing her pediatrician check-up to see where she is percentile wise, we noticed that she wasn’t really growing,” Nicholas Langlois said. “Her stool began getting fair in color, white.”
After lots of tests, Zoe needed a liver transplant.
Her family traveled from the Cayman Islands to Miami for the surgery. The expense of the family staying in a hotel as Zoe was in the hospital was nearing a financial burden.
They were referred to a Ronald McDonald House.
“Words cannot express, it’s been a God-send. Originally when we were at Nicklaus Children’s, we were bouncing around hotels, and that got so expensive, so fast,” Langlois said.
“The Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home, temporary lodging that we provide to parents who have very sick children who need to be treated at local South Florida pediatric hospitals,” said Soraya Rivera-Moya, the executive director of Ronald McDonald Charities of South Florida. “We are a 31-bedroom facility that has all of the amenities you could have at your own home.”