How the Ronald McDonald House changed the lives of this local family

This Christmas season, consider giving gifts that impact lives and create a living legacy of thankfulness. Think charitable giving. Here is one local family’s story of how it changed their lives.
‘The Ronald McDonald House-East Side’
This is the house where families meet to continue their lives,
To eat and sleep,
To find their strengths,
And dry their tears,
To look forward with hope to better years.
This is the house that becomes their home.
This is “The House That Love Built”!
~Author Unknown~

By Johnene Thielen
The Ronald McDonald House is a place for families to stay while their sick child is receiving treatment in the hospital. This is a great relief for families because during the trying time that you are helpless to fix your child, there is a community of people ready and willing to help you in all ways possible.
Seven years ago we stayed at The Ronald McDonald House for a little under a month while our 7 year old daughter recovered from a Traumatic Brain Injury resulting from a car accident. At the time we were living in Kelso, WA (about 40 miles away), we were on vacation when our kids ages 6 and 7 were in the wreck with their Grandparents on Hwy 26.
Once we received the news we “flew” to the hospital. All we had were the clothes we had brought with us to the beach. For 2 1/2 weeks we stayed in Jade’s hospital room at Dornbechers in ICU waiting for her to wake from her coma. Fortunately our son, Brad, walked away with a broken arm. Unfortunately, during this time he really needed to be with his parents but was too young to stay with us in her little ICU room. My husband and I slept on the window sill bed and our son was shifted between family members.
While waiting for Jade  to “wake” from her coma, we thought the hard part was done. We were sent to Legacy Emanuel Hospital for her recovery. When Jade “woke” from her coma it wasn’t like in the movies where the actor opens their eyes and the world is fine.
In reality she thrashed around for 3 days while we anticipated how bad the brain damage was going to be. We were in a small room with room for only one parent to sleep. During this time there was a lot of despair, hopelessness, impatience, visitors and prayer.
When our son made the comment that he wished he was hurt as bad as Jade so that he could be with us, we knew we needed to do something quick.
We got in touch with The Ronald McDonald House, they took us in based off of a donation grant since we didn’t have the money to pay. This grant is possible through the kindness of others; giving donations and volunteering. Not only did they provide us with a hotel quality room with two queen sized beds but they gave us food, toiletries, toys for Brad, and connections to others going through similar situations. We were now on the hospital campus, our son was able to be with us all of the time, we no longer had to spend money on hospital food because we had a kitchen and we had peace of mind that if anything should go wrong we were right across the street. They provided free laundry, video games, and an indescribable sense of compassion from both the staff and other house members.
For the next 3 1/2 weeks we watched our daughter, who couldn’t walk, talk, swallow, and was back in diapers, go through a lot of therapy to regain these simple tasks and more. We’re proud to say that she is now a smart and beautiful young woman; a “typical” 15 year old.
My hope in sharing our story is that you will think of the families staying there tonight, the parents who lost their child but were able to be present until the end, and the families who are and will always be reoccurring guests at The Ronald McDonald House.
The severity of a families’ situation doesn’t matter; the feeling of love and support from the people who donate or work at The Ronald McDonald House is the same. We appreciated what we had during our tribulation and I can only pray that you understand that your Time and Donations absolutely do matter!
You can go to http://www.rmhcoregon.org to learn more.
Johnene Thielen is a local geek, who runs the office at omOriginals Marketing! in Longview. She can be reached at (360)575-9839

Follow that Smoke – Longview Fire

By Johnene Thielen
Photos by Johnene Thielen
Saturday I saw a plume of black smoke against our beautiful cloudless, blue sky. So my daughter, Jade, and I decided to “follow that smoke”. It turned out to be the Maple Terrace Apartments across the street from the Longview Public library that was up in flames. Not only could we see this huge fire, but there was a crowd full of spectators, and homeowners dousing their own roofs that were too close for comfort.
Firefighters from Longview were there to do some firefighting training (see photo at top with firefighters in left corner) before LCC turns the area into a parking lot. As we stood across the street taking pictures we were suddenly walking in and out of the “rain”, experiencing the effects of heavy smoke, and covered in black and white debris and ash. The breeze was blowing everything straight across the street at the spectators and homes.
I talked to a woman named Connie who had been watching the training since 10 am. As she sat on her camping chair she told me that sparks had flew four houses down 18th St. onto an elderly woman’s roof, causing it to smoke.
Neighbors quickly watered her roof and took her in for the time being. Connie said, “She’s shaken up, but she’s O.K.”
When the building went from white with red flames to practically no visibility and our eyes stung and our throats hurt, we decided it was time to head to our original destination. While walking back to our car we overheard conversations of memories associated with the apartments.
When I asked my daughter, Jade, what she thought about watching her first fire, she said, “That was crazy”!