The Shipley Family

“We ate from the Community Pantry every day and loved the bagged lunches delivered to the NICU Family Room at the Hospital a few times per week. This saved us a lot of money, and honestly, a lot of stress!.”

“My name is Ali, and my husband Nathan and I live in Prince Albert, although I am originally from Calgary, and Nathan is from Halifax. We are privileged to be able to share our family’s experience with Ronald McDonald House Saskatchewan. It’s an organization that you never hope to need… but when life is life and you receive an unexpected curveball, it’s one you are so thankful exists. Each family who stays at Ronald McDonald House has a unique story, and what unites them all is a very real understanding that we all have a special little person in our lives who is sick or in need of care. We feel honored to be able to share our family’s story and about how RMH has helped us care for our special little person, our son Myles.

When our son Myles was born, we had a lot of questions going through our minds. He was two months early born by emergency c-section… how big would he be? Would he be healthy? Would he make it? If he was healthy how long would his NICU stay be? The questions went on and on.

Not far from our minds was another question – where would we stay while in Saskatoon? Myles’ NICU stay would be at least eight weeks, and we lived in Prince Albert. We couldn’t afford to stay in a hotel, especially since Ali’s maternity leave started much sooner than anticipated…
We expressed our concerns to the hospital social worker and soon we were in touch with Ronald McDonald House. As I was still in the hospital, I went to check it out and get our room in anticipation of Ali’s discharge from the hospital.

I received texts from Nathan once he got there…. They read, “BABE!! You’re going to LOVE it!!” Followed by photos of our beautiful room, our bathroom, food and coffee. Hearing Nathan rave about it gave me immediate relief. Something had aligned for us. We’d have a place to stay.

Myles was born at 30 weeks gestation, and spent a total of 54 days in NICU, most of which were at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon. During this time, I lived at the Ronald McDonald House for 40 nights, and for the rest of his stay, we utilized the NICU Family Room at the Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert. We honestly can’t over-emphasize how hugely RMH impacted our family’s experience, all the gaps they filled and all the stress they relieved. But we will try to highlight the programs and moments that meant the most to us…

For me, knowing Ali was safe, in a beautiful space with the support of those at RMH made it much easier to leave to go back to Prince Albert for work. During this period I spent half the week in PA and half the week in Saskatoon, and while I was away, Ali’s mom and my mom both took turns helping Ali during her recovery, and they too were able to stay in our room at RMH. As soon as Ali could leave the hospital, we went to the House and the team there provided her with a wheelchair to borrow so she could get around more easily during her recovery. RMH was our safe place from the chaos. A quiet place to crash. A place to decompress.

While at RMH we utilized as many of the Meal programs as we could. We ate with Home for Dinner, where volunteer teams come in multiple times a week to cook amazing dinners! We are talking multiple items, courses, desserts…. It’s amazing! We ate from the Community Pantry every day and loved the bagged lunches delivered to the NICU Family Room at the Hospital a few times per week. This saved us a lot of money, and honestly, a lot of stress! Knowing that there were meals prepared simplified our days so that we could focus on Myles, being there for him and being actively supportive in his care.

We also want to take a moment to reflect on the beauty of having baking and fresh McDonald’s coffee available 24/7. It’s not an understatement to say that I still crave the apple cinnamon mini muffins, and eating a couple after getting off the road, rushing from work in PA to Saskatoon to see Myles. Oh, and if anyone here has the recipe for those, I’ll be around afterwards if we can connect…

As Myles was less than three pounds at birth, he had to go through the process of growing big enough to be physically able to feed orally. Until then he was on a feeding tube, but I was able to pump and store breastmilk so that he might be able to be fed from me even via tube! Conveniently, RMH has a nursing room on site, which includes a freezer to store milk. This was a huge help, and you could often see me shuffling down the hallway on Floor 2 in my pjs and slippers in the middle of the night to go store milk.
That being said, I always felt safe at RMH. They have security on-site once the staff leave for the day, so I knew I was safe to leave my room at night to pop down to the kitchen if needed or head to the freezer to store some milk.

Another program we benefitted from during our stay is the RMH Shuttle Program. After my surgery, I was not allowed to drive for several weeks, not to mention that when Nathan had to work I didn’t have a vehicle. And as close as RMH is to the hospital (which is very!) it was too far for me to walk right away following surgery. The RMH shuttle provided many rides for me to get to and from the hospital to go see Myles. I let Family Services know when I would like to leave, and then called them again when I needed a pickup! The RMH van would come right up to the hospital doors. It was another detail, which could have caused a major hangup in getting me to see my son, taken care of.

Ronald McDonald House Saskatchewan became our home away from home. They filled the gaps of all the things we didn’t think of or didn’t have access to during our crisis and helped us focus on our son.

When we arrived at the house, a sign on the outside of our room said, “Welcome Home Shipley’s.” Everything about it helps you to decompress, the Family Rooms, the Kitchen, the decorating. It feels like home. There were travel-sized toiletries in our room, cleaning supplies a laundry room to clean our clothes, and the list could go on. And that helped both Ali and myself decompress from the high-stress environment of the hospital and take care of ourselves.
Now, when we are in Saskatoon and pass the House, we say to Myles – “Look! There’s our home away from home. We stayed there when you were first born.”

We know that not every family is as blessed to have a Ronald McDonald House close by to their child’s medical care. While Myles was at the Malhotra NICU here in PA, we learned of other NICU parents who were from out of town and trying to find local accommodations. New mothers, who have just given birth (under who knows what health circumstances, for themselves as well as their babies) now trying to find a place to stay. The financial toll of this is daunting, but the physical presence of a parent is incredibly important for any NICU baby. This includes involvement in daily care like diaper changing, bathing, feeding, and advocating for their child within their medical care. The importance of frequent skin-to-skin contact for a baby with a parent cannot be overstated, and milk production and feeding practice are highest on the priority list. This means pumping breast milk at least eight times a day, storing the milk properly, labelling the bottles, and sanitizing the equipment. It’s a big job, and an especially difficult one when you aren’t at home, but it’s hugely important for the baby’s health as well as their transition home later on.

Knowing that Prince Albert is getting its very own Ronald McDonald House is beyond exciting. We know the need is here, and we know firsthand the difference this makes for families.

We are very blessed to be able to say that today, Myles is a healthy 15-month-old who is growing like a weed and currently needs no further medical care other than monitoring by the outpatient NICU team at the Jim Pattison. He loves reading books – as many as we parents will tolerate in one sitting), eating almost anything he can get his hands on, and taking long walks outside. He is a great kid, and we are so grateful.

We really cannot say enough amazing things about RMHC, and from the perspective of those who have firsthand been served by this organization, we can say how valuable and critical this organization is for so many families. For anyone here who is on the fence regarding sponsorship and would like to know more, please come talk to us and we would be more than happy to share more of our experience. This is an organization that fills a tangible need and leaves a lasting impact on a family, for a child. Its legacy is lasting, and for us, that legacy is evident in the emotional, mental, financial and physical health of our family.”

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