How Ronald McDonald House became the home a Melville family needed

Most people don’t think much about Ronald McDonald House in their day-to-day lives.

Maybe it crosses their mind once a year, when the McHappy Day fundraiser shows up at McDonald’s restaurants. It’s a simple act of support for something they know is important, but often seems distant.

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Cara Stewart said she’d heard about the houses through fundraisers and advertisements, but never imagined she’d be staying there herself.

“All I really remember when I was younger was just seeing commercials of Ronald McDonald House on TV,” she said. “I didn’t think I would ever be one of those families that needed it.”

But then Sophie was born.

Sophie was diagnosed with a heart defect while Cara Stewart was pregnant. It was only after birth that doctors were able to discover the severity of her condition. (Submitted)

Cara and her husband Myles live in Melville. During her pregnancy, they already knew something might be wrong, but there were still a lot of unknowns.

“When she was in utero, we found out that she had a heart defect,” Stewart reflected. “When she was born, it was a lot worse than they expected.”

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Sophie was born on Oct. 8, 2025, and was quickly diagnosed with tetralogy of Fallot, with an absent pulmonary valve.

Two days later, they were on a plane to Edmonton. “And Sophie got her surgery at six days old,” Stewart said.

At just two days old, Sophie was flown to Edmonton for a heart surgery. (Submitted)

Stewart said her recollection of this time is not a clean sequence of events. It’s a blur of fear, decisions and trying to keep up with what doctors were telling her, all while her newborn daughter was in critical care.

She had just had a C-section, and hadn’t packed for anything beyond a normal hospital stay.

“I didn’t have a lot of clothes. I didn’t have a lot of toiletries,” she recalled.

She ended up at Ronald McDonald House.

“They were so accommodating,” Stewart said. “I didn’t have to worry about anything.”

She said the days were long in the hospital, with hour after hour spent trying to process what was happening while being there for her baby.

Having somewhere to go and not having to figure out dinner once you get there matters a lot more than it may seem.

“It just made my days so much easier,” Stewart said.

Cara Stewart said the support her family received through Ronald McDonald House allowed her and her husband Myles to focus on the thing that truly matters — their children. (Submitted)

They stayed in Edmonton for 12 nights. Then, once Sophie was stable enough, they were sent back to Saskatoon, where the routine kept going.

“We stayed 26 nights at the Saskatoon Ronald McDonald House,” Stewart said.

She explained that when you’re in a situation like this, you start to notice the other families.

At first, she said, everyone keeps to themselves. But after a while, you recognize faces and you start talking.

“At the end of the day, when we would go back to the house and our children would still be in the hospital, it was definitely a comfort to be able to see familiar faces of the other parents and sit down with them and be able to talk to them about our days,” she said.

“Everyone’s children would be going through something different, but everyone had their own their own story and their own journey, and everyone had an understanding of each other.”

That kind of environment is hard to explain unless you’ve been in it. It’s not loud or overtly emotional all the time. It’s steady. A place to exhale after a full day of holding your breath at your child’s bedside.

Ronald McDonald House enables kids like Fynnegan to stay close to their siblings during medical challenges. (Submitted)

Stewart said before experiencing it herself, she didn’t realize how much actually goes into keeping a place like Ronald McDonald House running.

“How many people volunteer there, and how many meals they provide… Not just at the House, but they provide meals Monday, Wednesday, Friday at the children’s hospital. It just makes such a huge difference,” Stewart said,

Now, the family is back home in Melville.

Stewart said she still has regular cardiology appointments in Saskatoon. The family goes back often, and when they do they are welcomed back into Ronald McDonald House with open arms.

Stewart said Sophie’s medical journey is far from over.

“We know she will need another surgery eventually, so we will need to go back to Edmonton,” she said.

Today, Sophie is back home with her family in Melville. She makes regular trips to Saskatoon for checkups, and will eventually need another surgery in Edmonton. (Submitted)

Back to Edmonton, and back to Ronald McDonald house. Back to a place that, for them, no longer feels unfamiliar.

For families like the Stewarts, that matters. Because life doesn’t pause around hospital stays.

Cara is still on maternity leave. There are financial pressures that come with time away from work, with travel and with uncertainty. The cost of simply being close to your child can add up quickly.

There’s also their five-year-old son, Fynnegan.

When he comes along for those trips, Ronald McDonald House gives him something just as important as it does his parents: a sense of normalcy.

“There’s other children there he can socialize with, so it’s just a very comfortable experience,” Stewart explained.

And at the end of the day, that’s what Ronald McDonald House truly offers families. Comfort.

A place where you don’t have to think about dinner. Or where you’re going to sleep. Or how you’re going to afford to stay close.

“I’m forever grateful for all the support they provided,” Stewart said. “They do make such an effort and such an impact on people’s lives. More than they realize.”

As McHappy Day is marked at McDonald’s, the Stewart family from Melville is reflecting on the support they received from Ronald McDonald House during a medical journey far from home. (Submitted)