Emanuel and his family’s journey through pediatric cancer brought them face to face with unimaginable challenges including financial fears, family separation, and a cancer plaguing a seven-year-old boy that just seemed to keep growing. Like many other families navigating similar crises, they discovered that the support they needed extended far beyond medical care.

During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Ronald McDonald House New York highlights the story of Dimitris, a 10-year-old boy diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), and his amazing mother, Melissa. The family's journey from Trinidad and Tobago to New York City began with a leap of faith and continued forward with support from places the family never knew possible including Ronald McDonald House New York. This is their story.

Yet, Abdiel is not your typical two-year-old. The boy’s life has been a constant barrage of doctors, diagnoses and NICU nurses.  Any person who was in a constant cycle of those types of interruptions would not necessarily think of that time as anything other than hard work.

However, Abdiel just calls it playtime.

In the heart of Manhattan, where the city's hustle and bustle seem unrelenting, there exists a House that is a haven of support to so many families called Ronald McDonald House New York. Last summer, this haven became home to Polina Papadopoulos and her family, as they faced the challenging journey of Sophia, Polina's 2 1/2-year-old daughter, undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.