Vanessa Johnston

"In December 2017 as the end of the school year was approaching, my son Charlie suffered a severe bleed on the brain resulting in near death. As we live in regional NSW, he was flown to Sydney Children’s Hospital (SCH) where he was to spend the next 8 months recovering, including intensive rehabilitation. The road ahead looked long, terrifying, difficult and uncertain. Added to that was the possible horrendous financial burden of at least one of us needing to stay with our son and the isolation faced away from family and our community. 

Ronald MacDonald House came to our rescue. Whilst our son was in a coma in ICU during those early weeks, it was suggested we contact ‘Ronnie Mac’ on the SCH campus as it was obvious, we were going to be around for some time. I’ll never forget walking into Ronnie Mac, still shell shocked, and immediately made to feel welcome … and understood. The staff and other parents were so kind and nurturing, they gave me a sense that so much of our dishevelled lives at that moment was going to be OK. The Ronnie Mac facility is nothing short of amazing. Everything they do is for the consideration of families going through some of the toughest times of their lives. All of us were isolated from our own family, businesses and community. And most of us were there under sudden and intense circumstances. Ronnie Mac gave us a sense of belonging and we formed a strong network that we came to rely upon. 

The privacy of our individual room and the facilities of the kitchen allowed us to continue with the simple rituals of cooking our own food and then joining other families in the communal living room to converse or watch tv. We all watched Harry and Meghan’s wedding – something so simple but so important to maintain reality. 

Ronnie Mac also provides dinners for families a few nights per week through the generous donations from corporate sponsorship. These meals were greatly appreciated after long and emotional days spent at the hospital. Whilst I was the major carer for our son during his extended stay in hospital, having our own private bedroom meant that my family could also come and go, as they often did, including some of my other children staying with me. Not only did this provide normality for us all, it allowed Charlie to enjoy their company and keep it real for him also. The disruption to our family as a whole was lessened. 

I will remain grateful to Ronald MacDonald House always. They allowed an extraordinary time of our lives to be a little more ordinary. I honestly do not know how we would have coped without it – the cost of accommodation in Sydney for a country family would have prohibited the support we needed to give our son. I will be forever thankful."

Charlie is now studying Mechatronic Engineering with Honours at UNSW (just down the road from SCH). The Knight family remain in constant contact with some of the families that they formed friendships with at RMHC.