“Cooper was born on August 2nd, 2006 and was diagnosed on October 24th, 2008 in Shreveport, LA, where we’re from. The doctors immediately sent us to St. Jude. We got our diagnosis of Neuroblastoma, stage III, high risk on October 29th. Cooper had a softball sized tumor in his abdomen. We immediately started chemo and we were moved over here, to Ronald McDonald House about a week after that. We spent Thanksgiving here, we spent Christmas here, we spent Easter here, we spent Bella’s birthday here. I’m a flight attendant so I was able to take time off work, Keenan actually lost his job halfway into it, but God has many blessings in store and we were able to spend this entire journey together.
 

Everything is a blur from the first few weeks. But by the second week of staying here we figured out that “wow there’s a kitchen” and “there’s laundry back here” and the magnitude of the House finally set in. At that point we couldn’t believe what was here…there was food, toilet paper…everything you can imagine within reason is here and we don’t have to worry about anything.

Once we arrived at Ronald McDonald House we got the hope that we can be safe and that we don’t have to worry about finances, and the world around us that’s falling apart. We had the hope that we can stay and remain a family, together through this mess. Here we can be a family and that’s all that it takes. We can stay a unit. This is a wonderful place for our children. They get to play and do whatever children should be doing. They have made lots of new friends, enjoy being able to go outside and use the playgrounds, and parks. It’s just home. Cooper plays here like he’s not sick. Because even when he feels bad there is so much going on, he wants to be up and moving around. We’re okay and everything is going to be taken care of. We are loved and supported through this…from the volunteers to the staff to the people who keep this house clean. We’re all in this together.”