We have had an overwhelming response to our Donate to Dine experience and have sold out. However, for those who missed out on tickets and still want to make a donation to Ronald McDonald House Charities follow the link. Any support is greatly appreciated.
For more information about the event read below. Keep an eye out for other Donate to Dine Experiences coming to Tauranga soon.
Starship’s ICU is simultaneously the best and worst place in New Zealand; as parents of children who need that level of care, you’re torn between knowing they are where they need to be, while wishing that they weren’t there at all.
In December 2021, I was that parent. Our twin boys and their older brother were at home on a Friday night, being their boisterous selves, when the dog lead they were playing with got caught around one of the twin’s necks as he slipped down the slide. My husband and neighbours administered CPR and he was taken to the Emergency Department at Tauranga Hospital before being flown to Starship and into the hands of the phenomenal doctors and nurses who would spend the next few weeks doing everything they could to bring our wee man back to us. As people were preparing for Christmas, we were grappling with the news that our son might not wake up. Thankfully, ours is a good news story and after 11 days of intubation, he was able to breathe on his own, open his eyes, and start on the road to recovery.
It was in this context that my family became one of thousands who spend time each year at Ronald McDonald House. I was a few minutes walk from my boy and could be there every morning for doctor’s rounds, read him his favourite stories, help the nurses with his cares, and kiss him goodnight.
Starship is the only specialist children’s hospital in NZ, meaning many families like ours have no choice but to spend time away from home while navigating the immense and unique pain of having an unwell child. Nothing can make that pain disappear; but having a facility like RMHC goes some way to easing the load.
I hope no parent experiences what we did, but I know that’s not realistic. What is a more achievable goal is for me to use the overwhelming gratitude we feel for the care we received at RMHC to raise funds for other families like ours to have the same support in their dark hours.
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