On January 15, 2011  Chase's family got the shock of a lifetime when their son, a happy and healthy 2 year-old, was hit by a massive seizure. “He had never had one before,” says mom Rashelle. “We had no idea what would happen.”

Chase was taken from his home in St. John’s, Arizona to Phoenix Children’s Hospital where he was in a coma.

When he woke up, he no longer had the use of the right side of his body, could not talk, and had to endure testing to discover the cause of the seizure. With such an extended hospital stay so far from their home, the Chase's family, which includes 4 other kids, needed to find a place to stay.

“I had heard about the Ronald McDonald House as a charity organization previously. It’s been such a blessing,” Rashelle says. “It was great to have a place to go rest at night and to get together as a family. My kids thought it was like a hotel. They loved the playground and were always excited to see what the volunteers had made for dinner. We met so many wonderful people there.” Chase's family was at the RMH from January to April while Chase was in the hospital and when he was in outpatient therapy at the PCH Rehab Department.

 The Ronald McDonald House could have come in handy for Chase's family a few years ago. When Chase was just 4 months old, it was discovered that the main airway to his left  lung was not fully formed, resulting in bouts of pneumonia and asthma. Chase was in the hospital for 19 days and his mom was by his side the whole time. “Showering was especially difficult because we had to share with the whole floor so I had to get up at 5 AM just to take a shower,” Rashelle remembers. I wish we had known about the Ronald McDonald House then.”

 The Ronald McDonald House wasn’t the only thing different about this year’s hospital stay. “That time we were never in fear, we were just worried about his health,” Rashelle continues. This last time was a longer stay and a lot more stressful. We were unsure of what would happen; he could have died.” A number of tests discovered that Chase’s first seizure was due to an adrenal crisis. The steroid level in his blood was too low, eating up his blood sugar. 

Months after returning home to St. John’s, Chase is slowly getting back to his normal self, walking and talking again thanks to his outpatient therapy. While his right arm still doesn’t work and he still suffers from seizures, it doesn’t stop him from doing what he loves, especially riding on the family four-wheeler with his Pappa. And, just last week Chase got to go swimming for the first time since January. Chase and his family will return to PCH (and the Ronald McDonald House) in August to continue with his therapy and receive some Botox procedures that will hopefully help him regain use of his right arm.

Rashelle and her family are forever grateful to the Ronald McDonald House and their many volunteers for the relief they were provided in their stay. “We liked it there. It felt like home”, she said.   
 

Reporting by Lindsay Walker, RMHC Intern