Nevada family calls Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Delaware House 2nd home
To most people, this place is the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Delaware. For Madi Schiro, it's "Donald's House."
"I feel like she runs the house sometimes when we're here," Anna Schiro, Madi's mom, said with a laugh.
The 4-year-old big sister knows where almost everything is in the house. Her favorite spots are the playroom, multi-sensory room and the playground.
The Nevada family calls the Wilmington-based house home every three months — sometimes more.
"She has a rare form of skeletal dysplasia called Spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia with joint laxity type I," Anna Schiro said. "Here specific gene b3 galt 6. There's only 41 known people in the entire world who have ever been diagnosed with her gene."
Madi's team of doctors is across the way at Nemours Children's Hospital, where she undergoes treatment.
For Anna, the Ronald McDonald House is a weight lifted off her shoulders. "It's something that we don't have to stress about," she said.
The Wilmington house allows the family to make each trip across the country a little bit easier.
"Everything that we do is to provide her a better life and to make things easier for her," said Tony Schiro, Madi's dad.
Tony keeps Madi close even when he's on the frontlines as a firefighter, with a tattoo on his left bicep.
"I got Madison right here, providing me strength," he said. "It's also close to my heart."
A permanent yet subtle reminder of his daughter's fight.
"Every day of the struggles that my daughter goes through and that it makes me and my wife stronger every single day, as well," Tony Schiro said. "She's taught us a lot."
Madi loves Donald's House, and her parents are grateful it has become a part of their journey.
"This house means more to us than we could ever explain," Anna said "The amount of thanks that we could give everybody that helps keep the lights on in this house, I just don't have enough to give."
Be a part of the village that helps create the Ronald McDonald House Charities a home away from home. And don't forget to tune into the telethon on CBS Philadelphia on Nov. 21.
To learn more and donate now, visit RMHC.org.
