Hannah and Cayden Lindsay live in St Helens, Tasmania, with their son Eli. They enjoy having friends over to their property for BBQs and spit roast gatherings. They have lots of animals including their beloved miniature schnauzer named Greta, who was pregnant the same time as Hannah. They have family close by, who love looking after Eli and talking to him about his beloved dinosaurs.
In 2023, Hannah and Cayden were delighted to discover that they were having another baby. And Eli was excited to know he was going to have a new baby sister or brother. Unfortunately, that joy was shaken when Hannah went for her routine 20-week scan in Launceston. The doctors couldn’t identify a certain part of his little heart.
“So the 20-week scan,” says Hannah, “they couldn’t quite see a certain part of his heart. So they sent us [to Hobart] to a bigger hospital just to make sure.”
“We went, thinking, ‘I’m sure it’s nothing. They just couldn’t see it properly in that scan’.”
In Hobart, what is ordinarily a 20-minute scan took 2 hours. Then they were referred to another hospital for more scans.
“They said that day they had an idea of what it could have been,” says Hannah, “but because he was obviously still quite small in that position, they weren’t a hundred percent sure. So they referred us to Melbourne pretty much straight away.”
With no time to spare, they packed their things and flew to a new city, far from their family and friends, and their home, for the safe birth of their baby at Royal Children’s Hospital.
Hannah, Cayden and Eli arrived at Ronald McDonald House in Parkville on 27 November last year and Mack was born on Boxing Day, 4 weeks later. Hannah and Cayden got to hold their new baby for a brief moment, snapped a quick photo, and then he was whisked away to intensive care.
“He essentially just has half a heart that works,” explains Cayden, Mack’s dad. “The whole right-hand side of his heart is deformed … two valves just didn’t work.”
This little bub had no way of getting blood to his lungs to be oxygenated.
“That’s why he was straight onto oxygen, and a tube was inserted to connect to his lungs,” explained Cayden.
The first few weeks were intense and frightening. “We’d arrive at the hospital at nine in the morning and get back at nine at night,” says Cayden.
Once Mack was around 5 weeks old, he was able to join his family at Ronald McDonald House, where they had been forming relationships and accepting all kinds of help and support from a range of different helpers; staff, volunteers, occasionally friends or family and even other residents.
Cayden remembers one night when Mack had “terrible colic… he was just crying all night long… and one of the other mums in the neighbouring room came over and knocked on the door in the middle of the night, asking ‘Is there anything I can do? Can I just give you a break? I can feed him. Do whatever you want.’” They had made friends with real connections.
Eli had other children to play with, and he started making some supportive connections too. He looked forward to his time in the Learning Centre, where an hour of school was provided each day to help him keep up with his learning.
Says Hannah, “Eli having friends has helped us the most. Him being able to just go out and play and not be stuck with us all the time… I didn’t have to worry about him. I knew he was going to be safe within the walls of the House.”
Volunteers cared for and entertained him and his little buddies, others came in and cooked meals and snacks.
Hannah and Cayden are eternally grateful for the care given to their 5 year old, Eli, who’s been with them most of the time, when not back in Tasmania with grandparents intermittently.
“The lovely staff here all take an interest in what we are up to and what we are all doing,” says Hannah, “and always show excitement to see Eli which makes him feel special”.
Having Ronald McDonald House has also saved this family financially, as it does for many others.
“It meant we could still afford our mortgage back home,” says Hannah.
Hannah says she’s “not sure what she would have done without Ronald McDonald House”.
Mack is still waiting for what the family hope will be his last open heart surgery, so Ronald McDonald House continues to be their home as of June 2024. He’s going strong for the moment, even though he’s had a poorly timed, surgery-postponing cold. His oxygen is steadying as he recovers, and is now at around 80%. Unfortunately he’s still not well enough to go far from the hospital, especially with his compromised respiratory system suffering from the cold winter air.
As they wait, (approaching 200 nights at the House) the Lindsays have sold their boat in Tassie and have bought a caravan in Melbourne, which they keep close by to the House, so that Cayden can slowly fix it up in between hospital check-ups and appointments. They’re hoping that when Mack is well enough to leave the hospital, they can go on a road trip to Sydney to see Cayden’s brother, who has just had a baby too. On the way the plan to visit a couple of the families they’ve met at Ronald McDonald House, to catch up and see how they’re doing.
Greta had 7 puppies, who Eli can’t wait to meet!
After 245 nights at RMH North Fitzroy, the Lindsay Family were able to go home and Mack met the rest of his family for the first time!
The House staff and volunteers miss them dearly but were so glad to see this beautiful family return home.
