Help Sick Children & Their Families with McDonalds (McDonald's)

Member Name: pert_abacus

Product:	McDonald's
Date:	20/02/09 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant - I Can NEVER Thank Them Enough

Disadvantages: There's still not enough accommodation but you can change that

McDonalds has suffered from bad press over the years & I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of their food but last year in my family's hour of need this massive impersonal corporation was there for us.

Let me explain....

At the age of just 9 months my baby daughter needed to have an operation that could only be carried out at a hospital 200 miles away from home. my wife was on maternity leave & was no longer receiving any money & on my wage we would have struggled to afford to pay for accommodation so that we could both be with our little girl (although, if it came to it I would have slept in the car).

Fortunately the hospital - Frenchay in Bristol - is one of approx 40 in the UK who have benefited from McDonalds own charity RMHC (Ronald McDonald House Charities). Money raised by McDonalds provides free accommodation for families with children in hospital & covers the upkeep of the houses / flats.

At Frenchay the RMHC flats are above the ward in which my daughter was staying. This meant that one of us could always be at my baby girls' side whilst the other grabbed a few hours much needed rest upstairs. It also meant that we had a private place to sit & wait & wait whilst waiting to hear if our daughter had come through the operation successfully & could be there by her side within seconds of her coming round.

We met other families whilst we were there. One such family had a young boy who had undergone 14 operations in his short life & his parents had given up their jobs to care for him. When we met them he had been in hospital for 17 weeks. They lived 450 miles from the hospital & without RMHC they could not have both remained in Bristol full-time. Tragically, whilst we were there this brave young boy was diagnosed as a terminal case. Thanks to RMHC his parents were able to be at his side when he sadly passed a couple of months later.

If you were reading this review expecting something witty about eating mystery meat burgers I apologise but please, when you next visit those golden arches, throw your change into the collection tins on the counter. It's only pennies to you but it means so much more to those of us who have benefited.

After all, you never know when your child / sibling may need to stay in hospital far from home.

Thanks for reading


Pert

Summary: It Could Be You