What a Blessing the House Was!

I was recently reading your fall 2015 RMHC of Marshfield newsletter that my mom gave to me. She receives it because she and my dad have been donors for, well, over 19 years now, ever since our family needed the Ronald McDonald House.

I read with much interest the stories of the now-healthy children whose families utilized the RMH services in the past. I felt compelled to share our little story and say a very heartfelt thank you.

It started in 1997

In early 1997, our 9-month-old daughter, Emma, was diagnosed with Autoimmune Neutropenia, a fancy term meaning that her body wasn’t producing enough white blood cells to fight normal infection on its own. While we were extremely relieved that it wasn’t leukemia (which is what they at first thought), the result was still lots of time at Ministry Saint Joseph’s Children’s Hospital (now Marshfield Children’s Hospital) in isolation receiving IV antibiotics to help her body fight infection until her white blood cell counts would recover enough to be sent home.

During these repeated trips to Marshfield, I stayed in her room with her; however, my husband (Emma’s daddy) and my mom (Emma’s grandma) stayed across the street at the RMH. What a blessing it was for all of us.

As was predicted and hoped for, after a few years Emma’s body “grew out of” the illness, and life went on as Emma lived a very normal and healthy childhood. The blessing is that because she was a baby/toddler at the time, Emma doesn’t even remember at all how very sick she was all those times.

Emma today

This year, Emma will turn 20 years old and is in college. Attached are two photos. The first is a photo that was taken of Emma and me after Emma had just woken up from a bone marrow aspiration procedure. (Sorry the quality isn’t the best as it was taken a long time ago). The second is the beautiful young woman that Emma is today.
Thank you for all you do!!!!

Lori Kiel
Neenah, Wis.