THUNDER BAY — A Thunder Bay family says being featured as the face of the Ronald McDonald House’s holiday fundraising campaign is a chance to give back to an organization that offered crucial support during the hardest time in their lives.
The Malettas, who have spent over 300 nights since 2019 at the Ronald McDonald House in London, Ont., as their son Finn received care, were chosen as the “holiday family” for RMH Southwestern Ontario, featuring on the charity’s fundraising mail-outs and website.
Jamie Maletta, Finn’s mother, called it an honour.
“We were excited for that, it meant a lot,” she said. “We’ve spent a lot of time there, so it was nice to be thought about for the campaign.”
She said it’s hard to put into words the impact the organization has had for her family.
Maletta unexpectedly went into labour at 25 weeks pregnant in November 2019, and what she hoped was a routine examination quickly turned into an airlift to London’s Children's Hospital, equipped to handle early premature births.
“We literally had zero notice,” she said. “I didn’t have clothes other than what I was wearing — we left with nothing. We went from work to the hospital to we were in London. And we spent seven months there.”
Finn was born weighing 1 pound, 14 ounces, and was intubated on life support for months until his lungs grew.
“That’s when we found out about Ronald McDonald House,” Maletta said.
The family was quickly accepted into RMH’s 34-bedroom home in London, a short walk from the London Health Sciences Centre.
Along with a private room and bath for $12 a night, the charity provided the family with food, clothing, and toiletries, among other supports. The charity also operates a “family room” at the children’s hospital itself, providing a space to relax, nap, or have a shower.
“I can’t even begin to explain,” said Maletta. “You walk into this place [and] you’re terrified, honestly, in the beginning. Our thought was, ‘How are we going to do this? How are we going to eat? How are we going to do laundry?’ We didn’t realize they cover that.”
The family stayed for 213 days during that first visit, as the hospital worked to transfer Finn off intubation. He received six blood transfusions in those early months, and went into cardiac arrest on three separate occasions. Eventually, he needed a tracheotomy.
“It was a long road, would be the best way to put it,” Maletta said.
While Finn’s now living at home, the family still spends weeks a year in London at RMH for routine appointments and emergencies.
The family has spent nearly every holiday since Finn’s birth at Ronald McDonald House in London – occasions Maletta said staff go out of their way to make special.
“The experience for kids is just… it’s hard to explain. There’s always something going on, whether it’s music, therapy animals, craft nights, activities. They have a play area with a theatre in their basement, they have an arcade room. It’s amazing – they do everything for these kids.”
“For us especially, I don’t know how we would have done the last few years, because we’re so far [away]. We would have ended up having to get a hotel or sleep in our car.”
Even with the support, the repeat trips have cost the family thousands. Without it, she can’t imagine how they could have made ends meet.
The charity is “crucial” to being able to access care in Southern Ontario for many other Thunder Bay families, she said.
Ronald McDonald Houses in Southwestern Ontario supported 73 families from Thunder Bay in 2019, the most recent year for which a report was available.
“I don’t know what else people from here would really do – we don’t have a [pediatric] ICU here, and we don’t have the specialists and the resources in the same way,” Maletta said.
She hopes her family’s experience will inspire those who can to support the charity, which receives up to 40 per cent of its revenue from McDonald’s Canada, but relies on other corporate and community donations to fully fund its operations.
