The Musgroves have stayed at the Ronald McDonald House
in Buffalo for months at a time, and know they will have
to come back.

Their daughter Alissa, who will be six in November,
was born with a serious birth defect called an esophageal
atresia that affects the digestive system. The family lives in
the Adirondack region of New York State, and the baby was
initially treated in nearby Vermont. In 2005, when doctors
there had done as much as they could, they referred the family
to specialists at Women and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo for
surgery.

Alissa was expected to be in the hospital for three weeks,
but she developed lung problems and ended up staying three
months. Her parents are grateful for the Ronald McDonald
House.

“In a way, it’s sort of like a home away from home,” said
Mike, Alissa’s father. “You have all the necessities of home.”

After being at the hospital for as much as 23 hours at a time,
the house “was a nice quiet place where you can rest, eat, relax
by watching TV or do laundry. The volunteers there were
always polite and considerate and asked if there was anything
they could do to help.”

Sharon also liked having other families there to talk to.
“There were so many people with so many different problems,
but we were all the same,” she said. “It was better than a
lonely motel room.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to pay for lodging at another
place,” Mike noted. He calculated that even with a discount, it
would cost them $3,000 a month to stay in a hotel.

“I wouldn’t have been able to come up with that kind of
money,” he said. “With me being on disability, there’s no way
because I have to pay bills at home also.”

The Musgroves were back in Buffalo in April of this year
when Alissa was scheduled for another surgery. Unfortunately,
during surgery the doctors realized that the problem was
worse than they thought. Alissa was hospitalized until August,
and there were several times it looked like she wasn’t going to
make it.

“Ellen (the house manager) was there for us and willing
to do anything for us,” Sharon said. “She sat down and talked
with us and asked if we needed any counseling. The Ronald
McDonald House is a very comforting place to go. They offer
a lot of support.”

Alissa’s medical problems mean she can’t eat, she has to deal
with feeding tubes and drainage tubes, and she has been
hospitalized for months at a time. Her parents are thankful
that the Ronald McDonald House has supported them through
their long ordeal, and know they can count on it again when
Alissa faces yet another surgery in about a year.
Alissa is home now and still dealing with lung complications,
but she’s defi nitely improved. In about a year and a half,
she will come to Buffalo again for a surgery that the family
hopes will fi x her problems.

“We’ve been hoping that for years,” Sharon said. “We’re
hoping this time it will work.”

Sharon has this message for the supporters of the Ronald
McDonald House:

“I just want to say thank you. We’re really, really grateful.
I honestly don’t know what we would have done without the
Ronald McDonald House—We would have been stuck sleeping
at the hospital. Staying at the Ronald McDonald House
was just like a miracle for us.”