CINCINNATI — Caring for critically-ill children has remained the Ronald McDonald House’s mission throughout the pandemic, and Monday, it celebrated opening its largest home yet, right in southwest Ohio.
What You Need To Know
- The Ronald McDonald House of Cincinnati added 99 rooms, now totaling 177, making it the largest in the country
- The construction lasted more than two years and the addition costing $52 million
- The house offers a place for families to stay while their children are going through treatments at Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Caisyn Fuson is a fighter. After he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma last fall, his family brought him to the Ronald McDonald House as he received care at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
“The support that we’ve received since we’ve been here, I just can’t put it into words," Brittany Fuson, Caisyn's mom, said. "But it would be a really hard go if we didn’t have this home here.”
The Ronald McDonald House has given him a chance to focus on being a three-year-old little boy rather than all of his cancer treatments.
“He’s been able to be a kid and play and have fun and it’s really a blessing, all the things that they do here," Fuson said
Through Caisyn’s fight with cancer, the Fuson family has seen the large new wing of the building built before their eyes.
“It’s just bittersweet, you know, because we watched it be built and now we get to experience it before we leave," Fuson said.
The new addition took more than two years to construct and $52 million. Now, with 99 additional rooms, bringing the total to 177, it makes it the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world.
“A lot has changed in our world since then," Jennifer Loeb the executive director of the Ronald McDonald House of Cincinnati said. "But what has not changed is our focus and our commitment to families with critically-ill children.”
Caisyn and his parents got to enjoy the new amenities of the addition, but now get to go back home to Kentucky for the first time in 355 days.
“There was one point in time we didn’t know if we would ever get to this point," Fuson said. "So, to see it with our own eyes now is such a blessing.”
It was only fitting that on their last day, the Ronald McDonald House would celebrate its next milestone as Caisyn planned his trip home just in time for Christmas.
“He is so strong and thriving and he’s just an amazing kid," Fuson said. "He fought cancer like it was nothing and he always has a smile on his face.”