This summer, Alesha Lowery spent 42 days at Forsyth Medical Center. She was in intensive care for 17 days of those days and on the critical list for three days.
Her family wanted to be with her as much as possible. It was a great blessing to be able to use the Ronald McDonald House as a home base, they said, because they live in a part of Greensboro that is 50 minutes away when conditions are good and longer when traffic is bad.
"It really meant everything," said Alesha's father, William Lowery. "Simply put, it was a lifesaver."
Alesha's mother, Liz, spent the most time at the house. In the intensive-care unit, visiting hours were limited. The house is down Hawthorne Road from Forsyth, so she would go there when she couldn't be with her daughter, and she would spend the night there.
"I wanted to be as close as I could," Liz Lowery said.
At the time, Alesha was 18 and had just finished up her freshman year at Wake Forest University. Her difficulties were related to her pregnancy, and, her son, London, was born June 13 while she was in the hospital. He was fine, and he would stay in the house with his grandmother. Alesha's brother, Aaron, and her father drove over from Greensboro 40 of the 42 days. They spent a few nights there and would often go there for breaks and meals.
The house offered much more than a place to rest and to wash clothes, the Lowerys said. The staff offered valuable practical and emotional support, as did fellow guests, many of whom they met in the kitchen when everyone was getting something to eat.
Among those they met were Sandra Childers who had come up from Mississippi after her daughter, Shanna Wagoner, who lives in Eden, had a son born prematurely.
"It has been a blessing," Childers said. "If it hadn't been for this, I don't know what my daughter and I would have done."
Today, the Ronald McDonald House, which is near Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, celebrates its 25th anniversary. The house opened Sept. 14, 1984 with 10 bedrooms. An adjoining house that opened in 1997 brought the total number of bedrooms to 17.
By the time the house celebrates its 26th anniversary, two more adjoining houses being built now will be open. They will bring the total to 35 bedrooms. Those rooms are needed. At times, as many as 21 families are on the house's waiting list.
Each year, about 700 families stay in the house. They come from all over. Earlier this month, a family from Michigan stayed there. The house has had international guests as well. The house serves even more people through the hospitality rooms that it operates at Brenner Children's Hospital and at Forsyth.
The house's work is done with the help of 318 volunteers. Two of them are Carole and Terry Hendron. Back in 2003, their son, Greg, had some health problems that required treatment at a hospital in Baltimore, and they stayed in the Ronald McDonald House there.
"We learned very quickly how important volunteers were," Carole Hendron said.
So, after they returned to Winston-Salem, they decided to give back by cooking breakfast at the house once a month. They don't mess around. Each time, they bring eggs, bacon, sausage, Lit'l Smokies, biscuits, fruit, juice, a hash-brown casserole and the ingredients for either pancakes or French toast.
With her mother, Dolores Thomas, serving as the "bacon lady," they take orders and fix breakfast for as many as 50 guests. Before he went off to college, their son, who is doing well, would come help, too.
They thoroughly enjoy it, Carole Hendron said. "We see the happy faces. It makes us feel so good."
kunderwood@wsjournal.com
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