What to know<\/p>\n
The Ronald McDonald House Toronto offers 81 rooms and support services for families who must travel to Toronto for their child\u2019s medical treatment, helping them stay close during difficult times.<\/p>\n
CEO Louise Smith says families could otherwise spend around $25,000 per month staying in the city, while many also face mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n
The facility includes shared kitchens, playrooms, a school, a gym, and community spaces designed to create routine and connection for families navigating long hospital stays.<\/p>\n
A new campaign placing a \u201cFor Sale\u201d sign outside the house directs passersby to a donation page, highlighting that the house will never actually be sold but relies on community support to keep helping families.<\/p>\n
Known as \u201cCanada\u2019s most essential house,\u201d the Ronald McDonald House offers families of sick children more than a place to stay during treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ashley Whitwell had to move to Toronto from North Bay, Ont. within 24 hours last November, after her son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).\u00a0<\/p>\n
For her, receiving the diagnosis was a moment of \u201cpure shock,\u201d followed by a series of questions about how to seek treatment, afford the move, and find a path forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou definitely get stuck in that moment. There wasn\u2019t really a thought that came to my mind other than pure shock,\u201d she told Now Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSecondary to the initial shock in the moment, when you\u2019re down here, it becomes, \u2018Where are we going?\u2019 and \u2018What does the path look like for us?\u2019 Those things slowly trickle in and each step is sort of a new hurdle in the mountain that you\u2019re climbing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After consulting with social workers, Whitwell was redirected to the Ronald McDonald House<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Ronald McDonald house has facilities all over the country, including Toronto, and has been working for almost 45 years, having helped half a million families of sick children in the country access health care and support.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a fairly quick entrance into Ronald McDonald [House], and I could not really imagine not having this place as an accessible feature, because it\u2019s become home for us,\u201d Whitwell said.<\/p>\n \u201cA home away from home\u201d<\/p>\n As explained by Ronald McDonald House Toronto CEO, Louise Smith, studies estimate that families would spend about $25,000 a month to stay with their sick children in Toronto while they receive treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n On top of having to deal with treatment costs, the shock of the diagnosis, and working to keep their families together, many parents also experience a mental health toll throughout the process, with 80 per cent of them experiencing clinical anxiety or depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ronald McDonald House provides support beyond just access to treatments, offering 81 comfortable rooms for families to stay with their children during the process, and an entire building of interactive and essential activities, featuring a school, a gym, a collective kitchen, library, play rooms, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n The facilities are a way of helping families stick together through the process and reduce the stress and financial burden that often come with treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a child is sick in a hospital, families don\u2019t visit, they stay,\u201d Smith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really in downtown Toronto, and the space has been designed to help counteract the freneticness of a hospital. So, if you are in a hospital all day with your child, there\u2019s lots of beeping and noise, and it can be very stressful. And you know, this space is designed so that when you come in, it really helps lower that sense of heightened nervousness.\u201d<\/p>\n Between various interactive spaces in the house, Whitwell says her son\u2019s favourite space is the gym, while for her, the sense of community takes the gold.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy son\u2019s [favourite space] would be the gym downstairs. Mine is just being able to walk around and see familiar faces, and chat with people. Like I said. I\u2019ve spent many times in this room alone with people, without people, playing foosball, watching the Olympics, those sorts of things. So it becomes a little sense of community that you sometimes lose when you have to move away from your people back home,\u201d she explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to facilities where families can stay, the house also offers mental health support and a community space, where parents can connect with each other and also find mutual support.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI heard two moms\u2026nonchalantly talking about how do you stop sweat dripping in the eyes of your child when they\u2019re going through cancer and they don\u2019t have harrow eyebrows, right? And I just sort of stopped at that moment and I was really struck by the community that gets created here,\u201d Smith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to solve that problem as a mom. Where else can you ask that question, where somebody else is going through the same thing, and can have that conversation with you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n According to CEO Louise Smith, 99 per cent of families staying at the house report that they feel at home and comfortable to be themselves, which speaks volumes to the Ronald McDonald mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n This includes Whitwell herself.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a home away from home. My son now, we\u2019ve been here for a long period of time, and he runs around this place. He\u2019s got the gym to play in in the basement. We walk past that fish tank. He talks to everybody now. Honestly, I could not imagine what it would be like without having this place,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Ronald McDonald House will never be for sale\u00a0<\/p>\n The Toronto Ronald McDonald House\u2019s new campaign has residents asking themselves if they are up for sale, but it\u2019s all for a good cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those passing by the house recently might have noticed a large \u201cFor Sale\u201d sign right upfront, but it only takes one QR code scan to find that it\u2019s not what it looks like.\u00a0<\/p>\n