A Family’s Gratitude

Alessia was diagnosed with sickle cell disease as a newborn, and her family spent years navigating hospitalizations and pain crises. When they pursued a bone marrow transplant at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Ronald McDonald House New York became their home away from home. Over 12 stays, staff and volunteers became lifelong friends, and the House became a community that held the family together.

In supporting the House, you’re supporting families like mine. You’re supporting families who just received the worst news of their lives and are flying from all over the United States, from all over the globe, to be here.

We’ve met families from India, China, Latin America, and all over the US because we’ve been here.

So in supporting Ronald McDonald House, you are supporting families like mine who are struggling to stay afloat, not just financially but emotionally, whose load is very heavy. If they could give it to anyone else, they would. But we choose to carry it with dignity and grace. And you help us do that.

— Maite, Alessisa’s Mother