“Donations help families with kids who are very sick, like mine. Without the Ronald McDonald House of Denver, we wouldn’t have a place to be with them as they heal.”
Two hundred and thirty-nine days is a very long time. It’s a span that can encompass an entire NFL season from training camp to the Super Bowl showdown. It’s the same duration from when the lights dimmed for the premiere of the Barbie movie to the glitz and glamour of The Oscars. For the Taylor family, this period marks something profoundly different but equally momentous — their extended stay at the Aurora Ronald McDonald House.
The family first made the exploratory trip from their hometown in New Mexico to Denver in July of 2023. Alyssa, six months pregnant and accompanied by her husband and firstborn, was there to visit a hospital known for its medical excellence. This need arose during a routine medical check-up, when they uncovered an abnormal thickening on the left side of her unborn baby’s heart. This diagnosis marked the beginning of an unforeseen journey of resilience and hope, as the family prepared to face the challenges that lay ahead with their new baby.
“My doctor told me three times not to have this baby anywhere else but Denver,” she explained. During the visit, Alyssa began to feel ill and was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia. With that complication, she knew she wouldn’t be going back home to New Mexico anytime soon. “I felt like I was living a nightmare,” she said.
It was then that the family moved into the Aurora Ronald McDonald House so that Alyssa, now considered a high-risk pregnancy, could receive the medical care that she needed. Less than a month later, her son Julius was born with, among other issues, two holes in his tiny heart. He would have his first heart surgery soon after.
Today, while Julius recovers and awaits a second heart surgery, Alyssa and her older son Logan remain in the House. Her husband returned to New Mexico where he can continue to work and visits frequently on the weekends. But Alyssa doesn’t feel like she’s alone.
“It’s so comfortable here,” Alyssa said of the Aurora House. “The staff has been so helpful. I feel like it’s a second home. It feels like family,” she added.
While baby Julius continues his medical journey, his family is nearby. And that, Alyssa says, is why donations to Ronald McDonald House-Denver matter.