Nothing is scarier for a child than being sick and not having family right by their side. Thanks to Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC), that doesn’t have to happen. Take Max’s story for example.
Imagine your world turning upside down – finding out that while you are trying to recover from a heart transplant, you also have cancerous tumors throughout your body. Okay, what would you do? Where would you stay while receiving treatment? If you are 6-year old Max Herrick, you’d take off your thinking cap, put on a fedora, gather your family close by, and find a way to fight through it.
The people that enable Max to do this – that keep Max strong, courageous, and filled with life – that allows his family to stay close by while he’s receiving treatment at one of the preeminent hospitals in the country, are the staff, volunteers and other families at the Ronald McDonald House in Chicago.
Max and his family have been guests on and off at the Ronald McDonald House for more than four years. Max has fought against heart complications, a heart transplant, and now cancer. Treating his heart condition and cancer is a balancing act though – while one medicine makes one thing better, it can make the other get worse. The care he needs is very particular and delicate, and it involves some of the best doctors in the country.
“It’s been a tough road, I’m not going to lie,” says Liz Herrick, Max’s mother. “But through it all the Ronald McDonald House has helped keep Max and our whole family balanced. It has enabled us to maintain our family unit – they continue to think about the whole family – we were all a part of the solution to Max’s conditions.
” Max just left the hospital again after a long series of complications and corresponding care. He and his family will continue to battle against his conditions, but they will continue to do it with courage and hope. And each time they need it, the Ronald McDonald House will be there to ensure they have a place to stay right by the hospital and that Max has a place to play – to feel like any other kid – to feel like the only thing that makes him different is his unmatched sense of style.
This story was reposted with permission from Ronald McDonald House Charities®.
Click here to read more stories like this in RMHC’s Blog.
Help More Kids Like Max! Give Through Your Workplace:
To make an experience like Max’s possible, RMHC needs your support. For example:
- A donation of $85 can help cover the cost for RMHC to host a family for one night.
- $125 can help pay the electricity bill for a Ronald McDonald House for one day.
Those are just a couple ways that donating to RMHC will help kids like Max and his family. And giving through your company’s workplace giving program is an effective and easy way for you to make a tax-deductible donation that will support Ronald McDonald House Charities programs all year long.
Check to see if your company supports a workplace giving campaign (if they don’t, encourage them to contact America’s Charities to start one today), and designate Ronald McDonald House Charities as your charity of choice. To make your workplace-giving donation go even further, ask your employer if they will join the effort by matching your donation.
If you are a federal employee, it’s easy to support Ronald McDonald House Charities through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) – just enter CFC #11277.
Connect with Ronald McDonald House Charities®!
Web Site: www.rmhc.org
