RMH

Noah

Age: 14
Hometown: Doha, Qatar
Diagnosis:  Brain tumour

WHEN DID YOU NOTICE SOMETHING WAS WRONG?
Patty (Noah’s Mom):  He had a one week history of a moderate headache and slight nausea. It became worse over the week. He had double vision and became unable to stand up at all. He was more stomach sick with increased nausea. We took him to the doctor thinking he had a virus or a slight concussion because he plays hockey. So we found out on that night, November 9, 2011, he actually had a brain tumour.

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU START TO WORRY?
I am a pediatric nurse. As a nurse I think it is common, we don’t run and take our kids to the hospital with any bump or bruise because most of the time it is not anything. All four of my kids had ever had any kind of recurrent anything. None of them had a medical history, like asthma or ear infections. You take care of them at home and it usually fine. Very rarely did I take them to the doctor.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE TORONTO?
It’s fantastic. Everyone is dealing with something stressful, that’s why you’re here. They take the stress out of the rest of it --- financial strain because of accommodations, transportation to the hospital, cleaning supplies, coffee, milk, bread. They pretty well have thought about everything. A lot of thought has gone into the structure and the amenities, how things are laid out and to helping the individual families.

WHAT SURPRISED YOU MOST ABOUT THE HOUSE?
I was surprised at the amount of volunteers. Things like that I didn’t think about -- cooking suppers (Home for Dinner), donating tickets for different kinds of events. Even working at the desk and running the facility and all of the extra things. I was just thinking about a room, a kitchen. And then you come and it is all great and you see all of this extra stuff --- even the barbeques outside. All of those things make people feel at home. The play area I see a lot of parents using it with the small kids. There are lots of space, lots of window, and lots of light. Someone thought about all those things when they put this House together.