My sweet baby Riley Daniels was born a healthy, happy baby boy five days before Christmas in 2005. Less than a year later, he was diagnosed with A-L-L (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia) which is the most common type of leukemia in children under the age of 15.

My husband, James and I took Riley to Monroe Carell Junior Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in search of a miracle. On February 22, 2007, we thought we had found one! Riley had a bone marrow match and was scheduled for a transplant. Everything went as planned and we thought we were well on our way to recovery. Riley had earned the nickname “Smiley Riley” because he never lost his smile throughout the entire transplant process.

Riley and I checked into the Ronald McDonald House in Nashville one month after the transplant. we lived in a suite at the house which provided us with a safe haven, a place i could focus on riley getting better, and a place for Riley’s big sister Sara to come stay with us as well. With James in the Air Force and our home an hour away in Franklin, Kentucky, the Ronald McDonald house was a blessing, a place we called home.

In May 2007, we received the news that Riley had relapsed, the Leukemia was back, and we were devastated. Three months out from the transplant, still never losing his smile, Riley was back in the hospital for more rounds of chemotherapy. We moved into a regular room at the Ronald McDonald house and waited to find out what our next step could be.

On September 18, 2007, Riley had his second bone marrow transplant. thirty days after the transplant, we moved back into a suite at the Ronald McDonald house where we resided until December 28, 2007.

We are all so fortunate to have a place like the Ronald McDonald house. After living at the house for 283 nights in 2007, I’ve realized that home is wherever we can be a family. A home full of laughter, perhaps tears, many friends and a loving family that is the Ronald McDonald House.

As for Riley, he is two and half now and still smiling.

With love,
Christi Daniels