ATLANTA — Brittany Lewis is a single mother of four. She calls Madison County, Georgia, home and her 16-year-old daughter Kadence her world. This summer turned the Lewis family's world upside down.
"She's diagnosed with cerebral palsy, she's autistic, and she's epileptic," Lewis said. "But she's very fun. She loves to play on her iPad. She scoots around, she doesn't walk, and she's nonverbal. So she wasn't moving, and she became very weak."
Lewis rushed her daughter to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Scottish Rite hospital, where Kadence went into septic shock.
"All her organs shut down. They had her on several different blood pressure medicines," Lewis said. "They put her on the ECMO machine, which saved her life. She came off of that, still sedated and incubated. She was on dialysis. She slowly got better -- got shipped back to Scottish Rite. I couldn't even explain to you the feeling when a doctor comes to you and tells you your daughter isn't going to make it through the night."
Even when panic set in, Lewis's patience paid off. Her world changed, and she found a new home away from home 90 miles away in the Ronald McDonald House.
Tracey Atwater is the president and CEO of Atlanta Ronald McDonald House charities. The nonprofit houses and helps families from outside Metro Atlanta with critically ill or injured kids. To date, the nonprofit has helped more than 75,000 families.
"There’s nothing more stressful than having a sick child," Atwater said. "Families are going through a lot, just trying to figure out how to get the medical care they need. We’re able to be a partner for them here to provide all the other resources they need when traveling here for care.”
Atwater said in the last two years, the nonprofit has seen more than a 90-percent increase in the number of families looking for care. To meet the rising demand, construction is underway on a new Ronald McDonald House.
“We provide a place to stay, transportation to their healthcare appointments, meals and other necessities of life," Atwater said. “Families are making choices of do we pay the travel expenses to get our child the care they need, or do we pay for other expenses like mortgage, utilities, car repairs? We are constructing here a new Ronald McDonald House that will serve 110 families within steps to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and expand the current capacity of transplant suites from 10 to 18."
Once completed, the new facility will be twice the size of the building near the old Eggleston Hospital. According to Atwater, the current house will eventually be sold back to Emory to be used as graduate housing. The new facility will cost $80 million and depend largely on financial donations from individuals and organizations. Atwater said the new Ronald McDonald House is expected to be completed in late 2025. It will stand in addition to another location in Sandy Springs near Scottish Rite Hospital.
Lewis hopes it will help others when their world shatters, just like it helped her not to give up in her fight for her daughter, Kadence.
"You can't give up because I'm all they have," Lewis said. "I have to be strong for them, for her especially."