Read about Joel's challenging journey with his son Hugo's health struggles and why he chose to apply to support Ronald McDonald House in our internal sponsorship initiative in Sweden. Learn how this organization made a difference for his family in their time of need.
Who are you Joel? What do you work with? 
I am 35 years old with a family and a house about 1 hour outside of Gothenburg. I work as an IT consultant focusing on testing and quality assurance. Primarily, I take on roles as a test leader and work with both technically oriented assignments and more user-focused areas.
Right now, I'm at VGR leading the work to quality assure equipment for a test lab, ahead of the implementation of their major investment in a new journal system. After the summer, I will have been employed at System Verification for 6 years, and before that, I have an additional 6 years of experience in testing and quality assurance at another consulting company.
When I first came into contact with System Verification, I was drawn to the fact that the company was specialized in testing and quality assurance. I looked forward to being among like-minded people and the opportunity to exchange experiences and develop together, and I really feel that I've gotten that! Add to that the best corporate culture you can imagine, along with phenomenal managers and colleagues, yes, that pretty much sums up why I'm still here!
We have an internal initiative where our employees in Sweden can apply for sponsorship for any activity they want to support with a contributing amount of money. Your application was selected for spring 2024 sponsorship, congratulations!
Why did you choose to submit an application, and what did you apply for?
In September 2022, we were fortunate to expand our family with our son Hugo. Already during pregnancy, we knew Hugo had a cluster of cysts in his brain, but the prognosis was always that he wouldn't be affected by them. After he was born, everything seemed fine, but the day after, he stopped breastfeeding, and we had significant problems getting him to eat. Despite that, we were allowed to take him home with a planned return visit after a couple of days. Hugo continued not to eat, and when he was 4 days old, he had to be admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with respiratory support because he stopped breathing when he fell asleep.
After a couple of days in Borås, he was transferred to Queen Silvia's Children's Hospital in Gothenburg for an emergency brain operation. They were going to relieve the pressure in his head; the cysts had now created pressure on his brainstem, which would explain why he stopped breathing. The operation was partially successful; the pressure was reduced, but they couldn't completely empty the cysts. He had a shunt inserted to help drain so that the pressure wouldn't return, and the hope was that everything would be fine from there. Unfortunately, he didn't recover as expected. He became weaker and weaker, and the doctors found that he had developed sepsis. After many examinations, it wasn't entirely clear what was wrong; they needed to perform an emergency exploratory operation on Hugo's abdomen, and it turned out he had NEC, a condition where parts of the intestinal system had started to self-destruct. The operation was successful, and large parts of Hugo's colon were removed. This was the beginning of a long stay in the hospital. Today, Hugo is 1.5 years old, and we live at home together. He has spent a total of just over 6 months in the hospital and has undergone 14 operations, with a high probability of more in the future.
I applied to provide a contribution to Ronald McDonald House in Gothenburg. For me, it was obvious to apply for this grant. During this tough and trying time, our family received a lot of help from this organization, and it has truly made a difference for us. Before we were affected ourselves, I had no idea what kind of gap this organization fills, probably because I had the luck of never having to think about it before.
Ronald McDonald Hus in Gothenburg
Thanks to RMH, we had the opportunity to live together as a family while our newly arrived son needed a lot of care in the hospital. The house is located right next to the hospital, which meant we could be together as a family every day, instead of being separated and traveling back and forth between our home and the hospital. There were good opportunities to cook and run our own little household while we lived there, and it made a big difference. We could create some kind of daily routine and not just be at the hospital - especially for Hugo's older sister, who could spend her days playing, seeing both her parents and her new little brother. Since you share the house with other families in a vulnerable situation, it also becomes natural to socialize with others, and the children get the opportunity to play with other children and make new friends!
Please tell me more about why this is important to you?
For me, it's important to try to give something back to this organization. Without it, I don't know how we would have managed during this time, and I feel it's extremely important that it continues to exist so that others, as many as need it, get the same opportunity we did. In our situation, there has always been a great uncertainty about what will happen next and how to handle it. At least we've had the security to be able to handle it together!
What do you hope the money will be used for?
The house is large with space for quite a few families; some are veterans and have lived there even longer than we have. Others only need to be there for a short time. There's quite a turnover of families and of course, wear and tear on play areas and toys for the children. I would wish that the money could go towards toys or some organized activity for the children living in the house, whether they are sick children or siblings of a sick child. Because I want to be clear about this, it becomes an enormously challenging situation even for siblings of a seriously ill child. They really have to carry a heavy burden that no child should have to bear.
Do you want to learn more about Ronald McDonald Hus click here.
Do you have a question to the media responsible at Ronald McDonald Barnfond, Lisa Palm Danielsson, you can reach her here.
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