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Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of South Florida is mainly known for housing families who travel to Miami from far to receive lifesaving medical treatment for their children with serious illnesses at local South Florida hospitals.
These treatments can last anywhere from a couple of weeks to a year, and RMHC offers these families a place where they can stay together, with the comforts needed in a home-away-from-home. But a less known fact is that RMHC serves not only chronically sick children but also any children that need lengthy medical treatment, that be anything from a preexisting condition to a freak accident.
The story of Dominic and Dimitri Encarnacion, 6-year-old twin boys who are staying at Ronald McDonald House in Miami with their mother and stepfather, is a jarring one… because it can happen to any family regardless of genetics, viruses, bacteria, and anything else that can cause an illness.
The twins were happy, healthy and active boys enjoying their childhood in the U.S. Virgin Islands just months ago. Until one day, in just seconds, they had an accident that turned them into critically injured patients, and they have been fighting to get back to their regular life, their childhood and their hometown ever since.
The twins and their stepfather were walking to their car after coming out of a bakery in their hometown on a regular Sunday morning when a vehicle struck them and instantly injured the boys with fractures and burns over almost all of their bodies. They were initially treated at a hospital on the islands, where they had their surgeries.
However, they still had to be flown to Miami later that day because of their injuries’ severity and high risk of infection and losing a limb if they didn’t seek further, more specialized care. The boys were first taken to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, where they stayed for about a month and then were transferred to Holtz Children’s Hospital for inpatient rehabilitation until they were discharged on Sept. 1 and prescribed to complete outpatient rehabilitation until they could walk again.
“My boys’ accident is every mother’s worst nightmare. One that we all know can happen to anyone but still never imagine it happening to you — until it does,” said Ashley Julian, the twins’ mother. “That day, our lives indefinitely changed from knowing our daily routine to not knowing where we will be staying tomorrow because the treatment and rehab program that my boys needed was far from home.”
Since the Encarnacion twins and their parents were from way out of town, they had nowhere to stay during their outpatient rehabilitation treatment — a very distressing reality for a family that had already been through much pain and uncertainty. Fortunately, a social service coordinator at Holtz Children’s Hospital informed the family about RMHC and helped Julian begin the paperwork to get admitted into the House.
“That was my first time hearing about the Ronald McDonald House and I was excited because we would be out of the hospital, which is a great relief because being in the hospital all day every day with your kids takes a toll on you,” Julian said. “I was a little nervous at first too because I’m very introverted and anxious and we were going to be living with other families during a pandemic. But once I got here, everyone was so warm, welcoming, clean and cautious, that it just made me feel really good. It’s just nice to get out of the hospital and be somewhere that feels like home.”
Since rehabilitation is a very personal process, the family still doesn’t know when they will return to their home in the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, they at least have some peace of mind knowing they have a comfortable place to stay, where they have the opportunity to rest and recover after going through so much and finally being out of the woods.
“I will be forever thankful for what RMHC and its amazing staff has done for my family and me because if this place wasn’t here, I don’t know what we would have done,” Julian said. “RMHC has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. It has given us a place to stay, complete with homey furnishings, comfortable beds and facilities that allow me to take care of my family like if we were at home, with a laundry room to wash our clothes and a kitchen to cook my boys homemade meals that we have missed so much.”
The Encarnacion brothers are strong and recuperating well. While they might be at RMHC for a little longer until they are out of their wheelchairs, so many more families like theirs need a comfortable temporary home while their children receive treatment for weeks, months or even years. That is why RMHC is so important and why the charity continuous to find ways to fund its mission.
“Our mission is to keep families together in a home filled with comfort, love and support,” said Soraya Rivera-Moya, executive director of RMHC South Florida. “That is why we hold our Round-Up campaign with McDonald’s Restaurants year-round and the chain hosts their Drive-Through Challenge a couple of times a year — to provide an outlet for people who want to help more families, like Dominic and Dimitri’s, have a place to donate it in whatever increments they can.”
South Florida area McDonald’s restaurants are raising money through the drive-thru, benefiting RMHC of South Florida and RMHC of Southwest Florida. Each time someone orders through the drive-thru, they can round up the purchase to the nearest dollar or choose to give $1, $3 or $5 for RMHC. Customers also now have the easy, convenient option to make an RMHC donation of $1, $3 or $5 by placing their order through the McDonald’s app while also earning rewards.
For more information, visit rmhc.org.
