Back from Vancouver after spending the better part of a year with their daughter in hospital, Brent and Karlee Cook's hearts are full.
The Nakusp couple, whose seven-year-old Isabella was diagnosed with cancer at age 6, spent 197 days last year with elder daughter Gabriella at Ronald McDonald (RMH) House BC and Yukon's Family Room while their youngest underwent treatment at the nearby BC Children's Hospital.
It was a long stay for Isabella, a patient of a rare cancer called Wilms tumour that affects children's kidneys, and a young gymnast midway through her Grade 2 schooling. But thanks to remarkable accommodations and community at the Family Room, her parents and sister could be there with her for the long run.
These positive family experiences in times of critical medical operations is a focus of RMH's current Fort-A-Thon fundraiser, which challenges families to raise money by pooling together their blankets, pillows and couch cushions to make the best household fort they can. Proceeds sponsored from their cushioned constructions support the building of two new Family Rooms in Kamloops and Prince George.
RMH estimates it helps 2,000 families every year across B.C. and Yukon save about $11,000 each on 18-day stays during their children's time in hospital.
The Cook family, welcomed to RMH's Vancouver Family Room last year thanks to referral by a BC Children's Hospital social worker, got the deal of a lifetime during their nearly 200 straight days away from home.
With Isabella's cancer treatment initially rendering her parents "deer in the headlights," they quickly found themselves put at ease by the facility's homey services and the shared experiences of other families they got to know there.
At the Family Room, "they get how to work with families dealing with these traumatic experiences," Brent said. "I don't know if I could've written a better script for the treatment we got from these guys."
A 24-7 art room, music room, play area with air hockey, table tennis and gaming section for older children, and in-house education program meant the Cooks' other daughter Gabriella continued to learn, leisure and socialize with new friends she made, even while distant from school and home.
Meanwhile, Brent and Karlee valued how the program paired them with other resident parents going through similar roller coasters, allowing them to feel less isolated and better understood in their experiences. It took a long time to remember other parents' names, Brent explained, because he and Karlee got to know them organically as the families of the many children who Isabella and Gabriella befriended in the custody of RMH.
"Our experience talking to other parents is we know there's a future. It will be OK," Brent said. "Our kitchen was like a family by the end of it."
He fondly recalled how "the coffee was always on" for parents to stay awake and chat whenever they needed it.
Karlee also raved about the Family Room's food program, which offered a spacious shared kitchen and multiple meals arranged daily, which took a huge burden off the family having to cook at times of greater grief or exhaustion.
"It's a big facility, so there's a lot of space," Brent said. "Yes, it's a hotel-size room, but it feels like a house."
The parents even praised the Family Room's location, saying "you couldn't have asked for a better spot" close to endless amenities and right across the street from the BC Children's Hospital.
"It had to be that we were all together," Brent noted. "She needed her parents, and we were able to be there because of Ronald McDonald."
While he and Karlee highlight that every family's needs are different for these stays, they "absolutely" hope to utilize the new Family Room planned much closer to them in Kamloops, noting the new locations will ease the stress on the Vancouver operations.
Now settled home in Nakusp, Isabella is at school again and right back to practising gymnastics.
"She's thriving," Brent said, adding her sister Gabriella remains her biggest supporter.
To learn more about RMH's Fort-A-Thon fundraiser or donate, visit .
