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Remembering a Special Child
A Tennessee staff member shares her journal
Staff members and volunteers loved RaRa’s smile and carefree attitude.
The people and services of a Ronald McDonald House have a profound impact on all who set foot in one. The staff members, volunteers and other families are an important part of a family’s experience when their child is being treated at a nearby hospital.
And just as Ronald McDonald House staff members and volunteers become a part of each family, each child becomes extended family to them. They celebrate each child’s medical triumphs. They reach out to families when they need emotional support. They are there to see most children return home. And they are also there when children do not.
RaRa came to the Ronald McDonald House in Nashville, Tenn., when she was 5 years old. She was full of spunk, loved to sing and dance and even pretended she was a member of the House staff. Her precocious nature was contagious, and it was hard to remember that RaRa was being treated for heart failure at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. Her heart was fragile and after staying in the House 73 times over the course of two years, RaRa’s time ran out.
In Her Words
Jill Johnson, weekend manager at the Ronald McDonald House in Nashville, shares her journal excerpt about RaRa.
She was 5 years old when I met her. Everyone staying at the Nashville Ronald McDonald House knew RaRa. She was usually at the volunteer desk, in the playrooms or dining room, chatting away. When I manned the volunteer desk, RaRa completely entertained me. She’d sit on my lap and see what she could get into around the desk. But sometimes we’d sit quietly and read books.
RaRa came from Clarksdale, Mississippi, to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for a heart transplant last year. As active and energetic as she was, you’d never guess that she had a major organ transplant so recently. She played everywhere, and our favorite thing to do together was find a baby doll, then a bottle, then a car seat for her baby doll. She was a handful, but you couldn’t help getting wrapped around her little finger.
The night I found out that RaRa died, I was crushed. It was hard for me to realize that a little girl with a new heart and the life of the House was now gone. Part of me knows she is whole and has no more medications or checkups or hospital stays. But she was only 7 years old.
Staff members, friends, family and all who knew RaRa will always remember her. RaRa’s glowing personality has left a lasting impression on the people who continue to pursue the RMHC mission.
