More than a Big Mac: Ronald McDonald Houses have helped families for 50 years

PHILADELPHIA − It all happened in one day.

Just after Thanksgiving last year, Eva Sanchez's son Zayden wasn't feeling well, complaining of pain in his legs and looking pale, but his parents chalked it up to the teen's love of tae kwon do, in which he has a black belt.

But when Zayden asked his mom to pick him up from his friend's house and couldn't walk to the car, Eva knew something was very wrong. She took him to a hospital near their home on a Florida Air Force base, thinking he had a severe case of the flu or COVID.

A battery of tests followed, and Eva and her husband, Jeno, heard the devastating diagnosis: Their son had leukemia. He would be taken immediately by ambulance to a hospital in Pensacola, where he'd remain for 48 days. A few months later, Zayden would undergo a bone marrow transplant at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia − 1,100 miles from home.

"It was a long night," Eva remembered as she sat in the cafeteria at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia, where they have been since April.

That long night was only the beginning of a lengthy ordeal for the family, one that's included Zayden's treatment, surgeries, complications (including some temporary paralysis) and physical therapy.

Amid all their worries, though, the Sanchez family has had what Jeno calls "peace of mind": the Ronald McDonald House − now marking its 50th anniversary as a safe, free place for families to stay so they can concentrate on their children's recovery.

50 years ago, another child with leukemia

The first Ronald McDonald House opened its doors in Philadelphia on Oct. 15, 1974. (It reopened in another location nearby a few years later.) Today, there are more than 400 houses and more than 270 family rooms in hospitals across the U.S. and around the world.

And it all started with an NFL player's child.

In 1971, Fred Hill's playing days in the NFL were coming to a close because of injuries, but he had a much more important thing on his mind: His daughter, Kim, just 3 years old, had leukemia.

She underwent treatment for more than three years. In 1972, Hill asked then-Philadelphia Eagles owner Leonard Tose to support a fundraiser, and Tose and the team did, to the tune of $10,000. The following year, the Eagles raised $100,000.

Hill went to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, where Kim had been treated, to see how that money might help other families. Hospital officials told him to ask Dr. Audrey Evans, a pioneer in the treatment of pediatric cancers, who was at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Evans told them what was really needed was a better way for families to be with their hospitalized children.

"She practiced what was called 'total care,'" said Katie Fitzgerald, global president and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities. "She'd noticed in her practice that families had nowhere to sleep or stay. They were eating from vending machines in the hospital. And some of them, because they had to travel and endure and spend so much just to travel, were forced to abandon treatment for their children."

The Eagles' general manager at the time, Jim Murray, had a friend who worked with McDonald's, and asked whether the regional franchises might be willing to donate a portion of their next promotional item, the minty green Shamrock Shake, to the effort. McDonald's regional manager agreed but asked if the new house could bear the name of the fast-food giant's mascot.

"The Eagles' connection to Ronald McDonald House Charities is a relationship that has endured through 50 years and three owners," current team president Don Smolenski said.

The team's charitable efforts today include McDonald's Eagles Bundle Boxes, which include collectible player magnets. For each one sold, $1 is donated to the nonprofit, with $67,000 raised toward a $200,000 goal.

'A community of care'

The first Ronald McDonald Houses were primarily for families of pediatric cancer patients. "Now, it's all types of illnesses," said Fitzgerald, the charity's CEO. Patients are most commonly there for cancer and cardiac treatments and the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units.

"When you come to a Ronald McDonald House, it will feel like a community of care," she said. "They will talk to you about your family's needs, see if there are any unmet needs, even before this crisis."

Families get transportation to and from medical facilities, chef-prepared meals at the house and to-go meals to take to the hospital, classroom space and tutors for sibling and patients, support groups and even salon and haircut services. Grocery vendors bring in food as well so families can cook their own meals, if they prefer to do so.

The houses reflect the cultures where they're located, Fitzgerald said. Some have larger rooms to accommodate extended families. In Fiji, for example, she said families are shown how to use appliances such as washing machines and dryers − uncommon on remote islands.

Evans, the co-founder, liked to say, "A sick child is a sick family," Fitzgerald said, so the goal is to provide wraparound care wherever possible.

Families dealing with a child's medical crisis "are experiencing high levels of depression and anxiety," she said. "You're scared, and you have to be strong for them, too."

Being with other families going through the same challenges builds a sense of hope, of togetherness, Fitzgerald said.

"Families talk about that and how they make lifelong friends, bonding through a hugely traumatic event, helping them along this journey with their child. I think it’s the most beautiful part of our mission," she said.

'A very special environment'

The Sanchez family expects to remain in Philadelphia until at least February as Zayden continues to recover from his life-saving bone marrow transplant and undergoes physical therapy to mitigate the neuropathy in his arms, hands and legs, a rare side effect that resulted from it.

Zayden was recently discharged from the hospital and is staying in a unit at the same Ronald McDonald House as the rest of his family. The house is a place where his little sister Ava gets classroom instruction as she starts kindergarten and runs to volunteers at the front desk for anything her 5-year-old heart desires – crayons, construction paper and tape most often, her mom said.

The Philadelphia house has 127 rooms that are "usually always full," said Ashley Leiss, the communications manager for RMHC of the Philadelphia Region.

Jeno, an aircraft electrician who has served in the Air Force for 22 years, and Eva, a hairstylist, beam with pride as they talk about Zayden and all he's dealt with in his life: He's on the autism spectrum and has epilepsy that's now under control.

Jeno acknowledges that Zayden "took it probably better than we did," telling his parents, "This is hard, but it's just life right now." Zayden celebrated last Christmas and his 17th birthday away from home, and, like any teenage boy would, he misses being able to play video games and hang out with his friends.

"If it was me, I'd probably be broken," Jeno said.

"Everything we teach him, he teaches us more," Eva said. "He's opened our eyes and made us better people."

They're grateful for the support they've gotten from Ronald McDonald House.

"It's been literally everything, even something as little as the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or being able to use a printer here for our insurance forms," Jeno said. "I don't know what we would do, where we would stay, how much money we'd have to spend without this organization."

Contact Phaedra Trethan by email at ptrethan@usatoday.com, on X (formerly Twitter) @wordsbyphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ronald McDonald Houses' lasting impact on families hits 50 years