26 Nov 400 miles from home!
Give the gift of togetherness!
Mary and her mom, Pam, found a community of support at Ronald McDonald House after traveling to Louisville, KY from Pittsburgh, PA for Mary’s medical care. Follow along on their journey over the course of the holiday season.
Follow along on their journey over the course of the holiday season.
Before Mary’s accident, I would have seen myself volunteering to serve a meal at a Ronald McDonald House at Christmas, not receiving one. But last year, we found ourselves on the receiving end of that gift. On August 30, 2020, our 13-year-old daughter Mary was happily jumping on her trampoline when she suffered a sudden, rare, and devastating stroke in her spinal cord. Within hours, my beautiful, joyous, active, healthy, life-loving girl became paralyzed from the middle of her chest to her toes. We were heart-broken, terrified, and in shock.
We were in hospitals for four months.
After critical care in our home city of Pittsburgh, and months of inpatient treatment in Philadelphia, Mary needed more specialized care for her recovery and life. I painfully discovered the difficult search to find it. By God’s grace, we learned about Frazier Rehabilitation Institute in Louisville, KY from a local friend. Her son received treatment there, after a spinal cord stroke, and her family had stayed at the Ronald McDonald House. Thankfully, Frazier accepted Mary into their therapy program, and we arrived five days before Christmas.
After critical care in our home city of Pittsburgh, and months of inpatient treatment in Philadelphia, Mary needed more specialized care for her recovery and life. I painfully discovered the difficult search to find it. By God’s grace, we learned about Frazier Rehabilitation Institute in Louisville, KY from a local friend. Her son received treatment there, after a spinal cord stroke, and her family had stayed at the Ronald McDonald House. Thankfully, Frazier accepted Mary into their therapy program, and we arrived five days before Christmas.