Time Danced:
120minutes
I'm dancing to make a difference for sick kids!
When a child is injured, or diagnosed with a serious illness, it affects the whole family. Lives can be turned upside down, and it puts families under enormous pressure. For many families, it can feel like it’s impossible to hold it together.
Back on the 21st February 2020 our little boy decided to make an early appearance at 33.3 week. At the time we were enjoying a beautiful holiday with friends camping on Morton island Queensland. Day 3 of our holiday my contractions started and my waters had broken I was taken to Royal Brisbane and womens hospital via helicopter, where we discovered the reason I had gone into pre term labour was because my baby was very sick and was diagnosed with hydrops fetails and was given a 1% survival rate. This is when our Journey with Ronald McDonald house started. We stayed at the herston Ronald McDonald house for 38 nights before being air vac back to Orange nsw where we lived. At the time we knew a little about what Ronald McDonald house did, but not the full extent. For us we were over 12 hours from home with no family close by it meant when I got discharged from hospital we were less then a 5 minute walk from the NICU where our baby was fighting for his life. It meant we could spend as much time as possible with him knowing we had a safe place to sleep and eat. We were even lucky to have some yummy meal made for us by some amazing volunteers. We also made some lovely friends that help us ride the crazy journey we were all going through. By donating to dancing for sick kids your helping families not to have to stress about not being with their sick kids while getting treatment or being as close as they can in a safe and friendly environment.
That’s why I’m joining Ronald McDonald House Charities to Dance for Sick Kids this year.
I’ll be making a move every day for 7 days, to raise money that will help families stay in a home-away-from-home, access emotional and financial support, and more. From day one in the hospital and for as long as it takes, your help ensures that families don’t have to navigate the challenges of illness or injury alone.
Please support me by making a tax-deductible donation to my challenge. Your generosity will make sure that Ronald McDonald House Charities can support even more families with a seriously ill or injured child when they need it most.
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How Your Donation Helps
A global research team* worked with RMHC to evaluate the impact of our House Program on families around the world. The following is a summary of those findings**.
Access to the best care
Our House Program makes it possible for families who travel long distances, to access the top children’s hospitals around the world.
Stronger mental health
Having a child in hospital can trigger clinical anxiety in parents. Our Houses provide families with the emotional, mental and practical support to better manage their stress so that they can be more actively involved in the care of their children.
Financial peace of mind
Ongoing medical bills, travel, and accommodation costs are a huge source of stress for many families. Our Houses offer accommodation at no cost, close to hospitals, to alleviate some of the burden.
Parents sleep better
Parents who sleep at one of our Houses have a better night’s rest than those that sleep at their child’s hospital bedside. This ensures they have the strength to support their child.
Children’s recovery
Having family and siblings close by, who are invested in a child’s care, can improve a hospitalised child’s recovery and treatment outcomes.
Positive hospital experience
Families who stay at a Ronald McDonald House find they have a more positive experience of hospital than those that stay elsewhere.
Families cope better
Having family together under one roof, including the support of experienced volunteers and other families, greatly improves a family’s ability to cope with having a child in hospital.
Safe, affordable alternative to hospital
Many high-risk pregnant women who are stable but need to be close to care, can now afford to stay close to care. This is also the case for parents who have a newborn in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Siblings cope better
Play is how children interact and make sense of the world. That’s why play areas are such an important part of our offering. They allow siblings to connect and cope more with the stress of a difficult situation.
* The global team of researchers was drawn from leading universities, including the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), George Washington University, the University of Chicago, as well as from top medical centres in Hong Kong; Sydney, Australia; the United Kingdom; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Cincinnati, U.S.; and Toronto, Canada.
** Findings taken from RMHC Impact Research – the name for a suite of studies on the impact of RMHC around the world. The summaries provided here provide a snapshot of the findings from each of the key Ronald McDonald House Impact studies.
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