RMH

Elyse Van Nieuwenhuyzen is four years old and battling leukemia. She spends most of her time in the hospital, receiving treatment that can be scary and, sometimes, painful. Being sick is hard. But there are three little people who can always bring a smile to her face and help chase her pain away.

Sam, 6, Drew, 5, and Marielle, 1, are Elyse’s siblings. While she’s being treated at a nearby Toronto hospital, they have been living at Ronald McDonald House Charities Toronto (RMHC Toronto) with their parents, Rit and Erica .

“Elyse is doing a lot better because her siblings have been available to her,” says Rit.

He remembers when Elyse was in the middle of chemotherapy and needed to have steroid-infused eye drops put in every four hours. Eyes raw and spirits miserable, she refused to have any more. Empathetic beyond their years, Sam and Drew enthusiastically volunteered to get (saline) eye drops too. The three siblings bravely lined up and let the nurse put drops in their eyes. Together.

Moments like that have made the proximity of Elyse’s siblings invaluable. When the Van Nieuwenhuyzens arrived in Toronto from their home in Prince Edward Island however, Rit and Erica planned to stay in a hotel and to send Elyse’s siblings to stay with a family member during her treatment. When they were referred to RMHC Toronto, their plans quickly changed.

“The kids absolutely love it at the House,” says Rit. “With all of the programs and fun activities available to them, they feel like they’re on vacation. It was also really important to us that Sam and Drew could enroll in school, right here at the House.”

At “Ronnie Mac’s” – as they’ve affectionately dubbed RMHC Toronto – the Van Nieuwenhuyzen siblings love playing with the pet therapy dogs, building forts with the mats in the Jays Care Clubhouse and running up to the library each night to pick out a bedtime story.

While Sam, Drew and Marielle have been enjoying life at their “home away from home,” someone special has been noticeably absent. Elyse fell in love with “Ronnie Mac’s” during the first couple nights of their stay, but she’s been in isolation at the hospital for weeks now following a bone marrow transplant. (Marielle was the donor.) Though they’re only a few blocks away, until a few days ago, Elyse was unable to see her siblings and it took a toll.

“Her biggest issue wasn’t the pain or the fatigue,” says Rit. “It was missing her brothers and sister.”

Elyse is now well enough to see her siblings again, which will undoubtedly help speed up her recovery. Once she’s released from the hospital, there’s one thing she’s looking forward to more than anything else.

“She desperately wants to spend a couple nights at ‘Ronnie Mac’s.’”