Benefitting
FAMILY PROFILE
Family of Jack Connolly Home: Branson, MO (Taney County)
It is during difficult times that blessings can have their most profound impact. In 2017, we lost our second
child to late-term stillbirth. In 2018, we were pregnant with identical twin boys when we again received heartbreaking news that we lost our third child, one of the twin boys, to stillbirth. Three days after receiving that news, we were admitted to Cox South under orders of strict bedrest to try to improve the chances of survival for the remaining twin boy, our son Jack. When we were admitted at 22 weeks his chances of survival were essentially zero should he be born at that time. It was during this time of bedrest that we began experiencing the Ronald McDonald House at Cox South. Thankfully, through the grace of God, Jack was not born for another 3 weeks. However, being born at 25 weeks and 1lb. 13 oz. meant that our family would be needing our room at the House for another couple of months. In total, we stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for 128 days! During this time, since we live in Branson, the House served as our “home-away-from-home.” It meant so many things to us, to name a few: that we could stay close to Jack, that we did not have to drive back and forth every day, that our family had a place where we could be together instead of trying to be in two cities at once. The staff at the House became dear friends to us. Our daughter had a birthday party at the Ronald McDonald House that was attended solely by the precious staff at the House and the nurses and a doctor from the Cox South NICU. The staff at the House even bought our daughter a fish for her birthday. To this day “Lucy” the light pink fish is a proud member of the fish tank at the Ronald McDonald House near Cox South! The Ronald McDonald House helped save our family. It was one of the things that God blessed us with that kept us functioning as a family and kept us close to our son during such a critical and trying time. We are forever thankful to the Ronald McDonald House and its staff. They became, and forever will be, like family to us.
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