When Raimey needed a heart and liver transplant, her family traveled ten hours from Turner, Oregon, to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. They stayed at the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, just minutes from her bedside.
Raimey, 17, was born with a single-ventricle heart, a defect so rare it still doesn’t have a name. This spring she needed a new heart and a new liver in the same surgery, and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford was the only hospital that could do both.
The Johnson family made the trip from Oregon and checked into the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. On March 24, Raimey was in surgery for 20 hours while her parents waited at the House, just minutes away
“That’s when I understood what this place really is.”
Morning coffee in the shared kitchen turned into familiar faces, and familiar faces turned into people who noticed when someone wasn’t okay. That’s how the Johnsons met three-year-old Sebastian and his mom, Ellie, who was anxious about her son’s upcoming heart surgery. Raimey had never met anyone else with a heart like hers. Fresh from her own transplant, she told Sebastian he was strong and that he was going to do so well.
One afternoon, Angie mentioned they were heading to the zoo and asked Sebastian and Ellie to come along. The families hardly knew each other. They said yes. For a few hours, two kids got to just be kids, with the hospital far from their minds.
Beyond new friendships, the House gave the Johnsons something steady to lean on: meals waiting every day, bingo nights (Raimey’s favorite), birthday Legos from the prize closet, visits from Furry Friends, and a Father’s Day barbecue when Angie’s dad came to visit. The front desk team learned her name. Volunteers showed up for the celebrations and the hardest days alike. When Raimey got sick again and the family had to return, Angie says it felt like walking back into their old home.
Back in Turner, Raimey’s little sister counts the days until her family is together again. Being apart is hard on everyone. But having a place to land near the hospital is what holds the Johnsons together through it.
Raimey’s dad works from the House during the day so one parent is always at her side. In the evenings, he takes over at the hospital so Angie can sleep — because Raimey needs both of them, fully present and able to advocate for her
"If I don’t get sleep, I can’t be there for her the way she needs. Rest lets me be brave and strong instead of crumbling onto the floor.”
For the Johnson family, the House is not a collection of rooms. “It is a community,” Angie says, “the kind that shows up for a stranger’s child like she’s their own.”
Your year-end gift helps families like the Johnsons stay together — with a room to rest, meals waiting, and a community that shows up.
Gifts made by December 31 count toward your 2026 tax year. Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
