The Whitmore family has spent over 8 of the last 18 months, staying at Ronald McDonald House of Dallas. Their first stay was last summer, as Tatum, now 7, received phototherapy treatment, not available in her hometown of Daingerfield, TX. Tatum battles a rare manifestation of Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma. Her family came to Dallas in May of 2015 for treatment of her condition. They left in September of 2015, only to have to return in May of 2016, when her condition worsened. She was placed back on oral chemo and required to do phototherapy treatments three times a week. During this time, her older brother Owen, 13, was also diagnosed with severe asthma and required regular treatment at Children’s Medical Center. During these many months, their father, Sedrick, stayed in Daingerfield to work while their mother, Misty, lived with the children at RMHD.

This past summer, the family was able to meet Shiloh, our Chief Cheer Officer, who quickly became the children’s favorite staff member. “Shiloh makes everything better,” said Tatum, after one of her treatments. The Whitmore family is thankful for being able to spend those many months at the House, “Our family will truly forever be blessed by RMHD. We got the opportunity to meet families and their children going through illnesses just like ours. The families that we met became our family. We spent many nights together cheering on achievements and crying through the hard times. RMHD is truly The House That Love Built. We will forever be thankful to everyone at RMHD.” The siblings and parents are special to the staff and volunteers at the House, who have seen them work through both the trials of their respective illnesses and being away from home and loved ones. Most recently, they spent many months negotiating with their insurance company to cover the cost of having Tatum’s phototherapy machine in their home. The machine helps keep her condition under control and will be something she uses frequently, at least for the foreseeable future. After many months of struggling, the claim was approved and the machine was finally delivered in October of this year. The family was able to check out of the House but Owen and Tatum will still need to be seen frequently by their specialists.