Did you know that Ronald McDonald charities are not just for sick children, but sick adults as well? I didn't and I was crushed when I found out that my family was eligible for this support. I spent the first months of 2007 undergoing treatment for breast cancer. During chemo an old work colleague contacted me. She recommended that I approach Ronald McDonald House's Fiona Lodge to see if my family and I could stay there. She had stayed with them the year before while undergoing treatment for leukaemia.
The news that I was eligible to stay at a Ronald McDonald House was confronting. It brought home to me just how sick I was and just how much an impact this disease was having on me, my husband and two young children. I'd never been in need of the support of a charity before but I did need this, and so did my family.
Two weeks after radiotherapy finished my family and I spent a blissful week staying at Fiona Lodge, which is just south of Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast. The kindness of the Bay community, the beauty of the lodge itself and the magnificent location all helped commence the healing of myself and my family. My children were in the water every day and spent hours playing in the sand with their dad. I walked every day. I walked on the beach, around the rock pools and around the headland. I sat and drank tea and absorbed the view from the veranda. I watched the early morning sun light up the trees outside our bedroom. Bliss. Thank you Fiona Lodge, Ronald McDonald's charities, and the Bateman's Bay community for this place of peace and healing. I hope I never need to visit there again.
--Karen
