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New Ronald McDonald House ready to open in Winfield

To continue their young son's fight against a brain tumor, Lisa and Chris Post are going to temporarily say goodbye to their home in Michigan today.

The family will travel more than 270 miles so 17-month-old Caleb, who has been diagnosed with an ependymoma, can undergo six to seven weeks of treatment at a proton therapy center that Central DuPage Hospital operates in Warrenville.

But it's the Winfield hospital's relationship with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana that will ensure the Post family has plenty of support in the coming weeks.

On Sunday, the Posts will become the first family to stay at the new Ronald McDonald House that's been constructed across the street from CDH.

"To go there is going to be a little difficult," Lisa Post said. "But it's nice to have a place to stay. It's going to be our home away from home."

Cadence Health - CDH's parent company - partnered with the nonprofit Ronald McDonald House Charities to build the house, which is the fifth in the Chicago area.

The 19,000-square-foot, two-story Craftsman-style house - named Ronald McDonald House near Central DuPage Hospital - will provide low-cost or free housing for families who travel great distances to get treatment for seriously ill or injured children at CDH, Delnor Hospital in Geneva and a cancer treatment campus in Warrenville.

"We are thrilled to provide a new place for families to stay and connect with others while they're living through some of life's most trying times," said Doug Porter, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.

Porter said studies show that children heal faster when their parents are with them.

"Togetherness heals," Porter said. "That's what we're providing - the opportunity, the environment to be together and really connect with other families."

The Winfield location is the only Ronald McDonald House in the Western suburbs. It's also the 344th Ronald McDonald House to open in the world.

Locally, there are four other houses - two in Chicago and one each near Maywood and in Oak Lawn. There's also a Ronald McDonald Family Room that opened in 2012 at Edward Hospital in Naperville.

"Ronald McDonald Houses pop up where people travel to receive treatment," said Mary Agnes Laguatan, vice president of human and capital resources with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.

"Central DuPage Hospital has really elevated the level of pediatric care it can provide," Laguatan said. "People will be traveling to come here."

The $6.5 million structure has been financed largely with support from the Cadence Health Foundation, the CDH auxiliary, the Topfer Family Foundation, and countless other donors.

"The community really came together and made this a dream project to work on," said Chris Hensley, president of the Cadence Health Foundation.

The foundation also is working to raise $1 million to help pay for the house's operational expenses for three years.

Laguatan said the goal of the Ronald McDonald Houses is to provide a spot where families can eat, sleep and find emotional support.

The first floor of the Winfield house has a living room with a fireplace, a large dining room, a kitchen with multiple areas to prepare meals, a playroom, a family room with a flat-screen television, a game room, and a home office with two computers.

Upstairs, there are two dens, an exercise room, a laundry room and 12 guest rooms, which each have a private bathroom.

Laguatan said the areas are designed to make people feel at home.

For example, the living room has comfy-looking furniture, including a sofa, love seat and chairs. There are books for all ages in the bookcase and a nearby toy closet filled with new, unopened toys.

Each child can select a toy upon arrival, officials said.

"You don't want families to come in and feel like it's the living room that your parents don't let you sit in," she said. "We want it to feel homey - like anybody could plop on the furniture."

There are also glass panes in the walls separating the kitchen and dining area, the playroom and the family room. Laguatan said the glass allows anyone in those areas to see what's happening in the other rooms.

"You can still let your children have a little freedom," she said. "They don't have to be at your hip. But you can see them and watch them."

Laguatan said one advantage of having common areas that everyone in the house uses is that it encourages families to interact.

"When you bump into other families that are in the same situation, you get some emotional support," Laguatan said. "Families get a lot of strength from meeting other families."

The house also is filled with volunteers who want to help. Roughly 300 people already have signed up to assist in various ways, including answering phones, cleaning the house and cooking meals for lunch and dinner.

While her family was prepared to stay at a hotel, Lisa Post said she's pleased they won't have to.

"I think it will make this rough journey much easier for us," she said.

Caleb also should have plenty of fun with all the new stuff.

"The toys won't have been chewed on yet," Post said. "So he has first dibs with that."

  Volunteer Emily Adochio, left, and Lauren Knazur of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana load up some of the items in the toy closest inside the new Ronald McDonald House near Central DuPage Hospital. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
  The front entrance of the new Ronald McDonald House near Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield features plenty of light. The first family to stay at the house will move in on Sunday. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
  Mary Agnes Laguatan of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana said areas in the new Ronald McDonald House in Winfield are designed to make people feel at home. "You don't want families to come in and feel like it's the living room that your parents don't let you sit in," she said. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
  There are 12 guest rooms, which each have a private bathroom, in the new Ronald McDonald House in Winfield. In total, the house will accommodate 52 people, official said. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
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