We often get words of thanks from families who have stayed in our Ronald McDonald House. Usually, the notes come from those who stayed for several days, if not weeks or months. But the following was the story sent to us by a father, John Wheeler, who only needed to stay one night after more than 42 hours of fear, uncertainty, confusion, and lots of stress involving the perplexing and deteriorating condition of his young son. Fortunately, he and his family were able to leave after such a short stay, with the boy’s medical issue resolved. (Editor’s Note: John told us about his stay at our House while dropping off donations from his workplace, the Noble Correctional Institution. Click here to see the Facebook post heralding the donation.)
Our youngest son, Braxton was in 5th Grade and on October 24, 2013, his school notified us because he had a very severe headache and was not able to return to class so he had to be picked up. When my wife Charity got there, they told her that he did not have a fever, but he could not return to class because he appeared to have a migraine. When he came out of the nurse’s office, he threw up, and continued throwing up and was taken home and given medicine for what was thought to be a flu or bug but the vomiting and headache both continued. He couldn’t even stand the lights being on. At about 3 am on the 25th, he was moaning and in a fetal position on the bathroom floor, holding the back of his head. He was then taken to our local hospital ER because it was clear something was very wrong.
At the hospital, they stated they believed that he had a respiratory infection, and that he was dehydrated from vomiting, which caused the headache. Despite my wife’s attempts to explain to them that he had the headache first, they treated him with fluids, antibiotic and a pain medication, and sent us home and he appeared better at that time. After going home and getting him back to sleep, around 8:30 am on October 25, 2013, he woke up again moaning and in a fetal position holding his head. At this point, my wife called his regular Pediatrician at home and told her to meet me at her office. Upon looking at him, Braxton’s physician, Dr. Lall, stated that she believed he had meningitis, and that I needed to take him to Nationwide Children’s Hospital immediately. When asked why our local hospital would not have caught this she stated she did not know, but the good thing about him getting the fluids in the middle of the night was that I could transport him rather than him requiring to be taken by squad.
Upon getting to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, they began running tests based on the information that my wife and Dr. Lall had provided. They did a spinal tap to determine if Braxton did have meningitis and the initial results showed that he did have meningitis, but the doctors were uncertain if it was viral or bacterial, as he had received antibiotics at our local hospital, which would have impacted the results. They needed to do more tests and they would not know for certain until the next day.
So after being in the ER at Nationwide Children’s Hospital all day and into the night, Braxton would have to spend the night in the hospital, and myself and our oldest son Zacheus were instructed to go to the Ronald McDonald House. After arriving at the Ronald McDonald House, we were processed efficiently and checked into our room without any issues saving us time, money, miles, and kept us close to Children’s Hospital in case we were needed. It can never be expressed enough how valuable a resource the Ronald McDonald House is and the services they provide to people that desperately need something to go right during a time of need. We were fortunate to only have needed to stay one night as the next day, Braxton was released from the hospital. It was determined that he had viral meningitis, as all of the cultures were back. He tested positive for Viral & negative for Bacterial. He continued to have symptoms for a while but otherwise made a full recovery.
My short time there and seeing first hand all the families that are impacted in such a positive way by the services provided by the Ronald McDonald House, and the reality that some of them have loved ones in even worse situations needing further assistance and long term care is so valued. The previous acts of giving and kindness are why I have always been willing to help aid your efforts as well and Children’s Hospital when I can, whether in a professional capacity or with community service projects we have done with the sports teams I’ve lead through the years.
Thanks Again So Much,
John Wheeler & Family