The 11^th annual “Southwest Airlines® Charity Golf Tournament” raised $11,500. for R.M.H. families.   Southwest donates snacks for R.M.H. family members, maintains a Southwest Airlines themed bedroom and stands ready to transport Buffalo R.M.H. patients in need of specialized treatment outside of Buffalo to other cities that Southwest serves.

Sheryl Wadin felt shell shocked. On Aug. 11, the Wadins’ son Graham was born 14 weeks early. Sheryl couldn’t believe this was happening to them again. Their daughter Natalie, 5 ½, had been born nine weeks early.

The Wadins live in Jamestown, but Graham had to be hospitalized in Buffalo, 1 ½ hours away, just as Natalie had.

After relatives were notified, the first call the Wadins made was to the Ronald McDonald House to let the staff know that, once again, the family would need to make the House their home away from home.

Graham was born even more premature than Natalie, and his condition was more tenuous. In his first week of life, Graham had a very serious brain bleed as well as extra fluid in the brain, which can cause long-term brain damage. He was on a ventilator to keep him breathing. He has had two surgeries and undergone many other medical procedures to try to keep his condition stable.

Graham has been hospitalized for 10 weeks, and he probably will be hospitalized for several more weeks. As a one-income family, the Wadins couldn’t afford to stay in a motel or even afford the gas to drive back and forth every day. Without the Ronald McDonald House, the Wadins estimate that they probably would be able to visit their son only once a week.

“It wouldn’t be good for his continued growth for him not to hear his parents’ voices or feel their touch,” Aaron said. “And that would make us feel even more helpless.”

The Ronald McDonald House allows the family to spend as much time as they can in Buffalo, and sometimes Aaron’s mother accompanies them. It’s helpful that Aaron’s mother can watch Natalie while Aaron and Sheryl are at the hospital. But more important, it gives Grandma peace of mind to be close by.

The connections to other families at the Ronald McDonald House have helped the Wadins through both crises. When Natalie was an infant, they made friends with a family at the Ronald McDonald House who also had a premature infant.

The two families have remained friends through the years, and after Graham was born, the other family visited the Wadins at the Ronald McDonald House to lend their support.

The Internet room at the Ronald McDonald House allows the Wadins to look up new medical terms that pop up in Graham’s care, as well as to update concerned friends and family on Graham’s condition. Although Aaron is forced to take so much time off from work, he can at least keep in touch with the office by email.

The Wadins can do laundry and have a meal, just like at home. Natalie can have fun in the playroom.

“Each family has their own crisis going on,” Aaron said, but going back to the Ronald McDonald House each day, “gives a temporary lapse of reality where you can just kind of relax and forget what’s going on at the hospital for a little bit.”

Graham is a very blessed child, his father says. Graham now weighs a little over five pounds. He is off the ventilator and has a C-PAP machine to help him breathe.

“Hopefully, we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Sheryl said.

The Wadins are grateful for the Ronald McDonald House and to the donors who make the House possible.

“Thank you,” Sheryl says to you. “This is such a hard time, an emotional time. Thank you for making it possible for us to be with our son.”

“It’s a huge answer to prayer,” Aaron