Hi, my name is Debbie Waller and on September 4, 2023, our families’ lives were forever changed.
On August 21st, my 15-year-old daughter, Hannah woke up extremely dizzy, nauseated and could not walk in a straight line. We thought it was from her being outside at the beach all weekend and that she may have been dehydrated. After taking her to urgent care and her primary doctor, she still had the same symptoms. We did everything the doctors had said but she still was not herself and my gut was telling me that something was not right, so I took her to the ER.
Once we got to the ER, the doctors and nurses immediately knew there was something neurologically wrong and sent us by ambulance to Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. We were told that Hannah had a two-inch brain tumor on her cerebellum. The next day, Dr. David Chesler at Stony Brook Medicine successfully removed the tumor which turned out to be a high-risk medulloblastoma tumor. The next step was six weeks of radiation and then six rounds of chemotherapy. The first week of every round I stayed at the hospital with Hannah and my husband would come during the day so I could go home to shower, get food, and pick up her twin sister to see her daily.
When Hannah was in the hospital back in September, I was so overwhelmed that I did not realize how lucky the families are to have the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. When January came around, I practically lived there. I noticed how important the Family Room is. The volunteers walk around in the morning with the Hospitality Cart, delivering snacks, drinks, and goodies. In the evening, there were meals for us, donated from local restaurants. I knew that this was a special place whether you lived close by to the hospital or far.
In April, I took the Wish List for the Ronald McDonald Family Room to where I work, Roux Associates. I quickly became speechless as I watched my colleagues collect and deliver tons of donations for families dealing with a pediatric medical crisis like ours. Everyone in the company donated. We received gift cards, tablets, drinks, snacks, laundry detergent, and more. It truly takes a village to run the Ronald McDonald Family Room. Generous donors like you make a difference to the families dealing with the unthinkable.
I am so excited about the new Ronald McDonald House that will be built near Stony Brook Children’s and know it will make it easier for families to be close to their sick children. I would like to personally thank all the volunteers and donors who contributed to the Ronald McDonald House Charities New York Metro this past year. They made it possible for me and my family to have meals, comfort, and rest when we needed it most.