RMH

“Grayson’s birth was a calm and peaceful experience,” recounts his mother, Natalie. But soon after being delivered, baby Grayson was whisked away for tests to determine why he was struggling to breathe. “I still feel that knot in my stomach when I think about that day,” says Natalie.

“The paramedics told me if Grayson survived the helicopter trip to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto from Orillia, he had a good chance of surviving.”

Then Natalie and Ed received a phone call, “We need your consent to perform life-saving surgery.” Consenting immediately Natalie reflects on what she felt at that moment. “I was numb and in tears, hours away, overwhelmed and helpless. I just wanted to be with my baby boy.”

Grayson was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Natalie and Ed raced to Grayson’s side. “Arriving in Toronto we didn’t know what to expect. Grayson had tubes everywhere,” says Natalie. “Though it was a shock, none of that mattered to us, he was ours and this was our new life.”

Natalie and Ed had been catapulted into a world of uncertainty and stress.

A social worker referred Natalie and Ed to Ronald McDonald House Toronto when it was apparent they would need a place to stay for an extended period of time. “I called every day and eventually we got in,” says Natalie with a smile on her face. “I remember Ed and I walking into our room at the House, we broke down and we cried. The House made our situation a little more normal, like we weren't alone.”

Grayson’s family stayed at Ronald McDonald House Toronto for two months in  2008. They returned in February 2011 when Grayson suffered heart failure.

Natalie and Ed desperately needed the House so they could be close to their three-year-old son as he awaited a heart transplant. “Without this amazing House we wouldn't have been able to spend the most difficult months of our lives together. We will forever be grateful,” says Natalie. 

On June 15, 2011 Grayson received a new heart.