Abi’s Story

Deysi Effio-Benites’ journey to the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey started in 2014. She needed answers for her one-year-old daughter, Abi. Doctors in Peru had just diagnosed Abi with Spina Bifida and amputated her left leg.

 “When I got here, I was nervous,” Effio-Benites said through a translator.

But those nerves quickly turned to hope, when doctors at Shriner’s Hospital for Children told her that Abi was misdiagnosed in Peru. It was not Spina Bifida. Instead, Abi was born with her left leg shorter than her right and she could receive a prosthetic.

It was encouraging news, but it would require years of appointments, since children need new prosthetics as they grow. Deysi and her family needed RMHSNJ more than ever.

“I wouldn’t have anywhere…if we didn’t have the House,” said Effio-Benties.

Now, ten years later, they come as a family for Abi’s appointments, traveling by bus and air for nearly 24 hours each way. They stay at RMHSNJ for weeks at a time, as loved ones in Peru FaceTime with them, Deysi says, because they can’t believe a place like RMHSNJ exists.

“In my country, we don’t really have volunteers,” Effio-Benites explained. “People here are big-hearted because they’re volunteering their time to take care of other families.”

That includes volunteers coordinating endless, fun activities for the children.

 “Abi never wanted to stop,” Effio-Benites recalled about arts and crafts. “It would be one activity after the other. She would stay until the last person left…She learned how to speak in English to say, ‘again, again, another one!’”

That’s why they never leave RMHSNJ without taking pictures with everyone who helped during their most-recent stay.

“I want my daughter to remember these people, because they were here when she was here,” said Effio-Benites. “Staying here is not like a hotel. Everybody helps each other out. Everybody helps, especially new families that come in. It’s like everybody says, ‘home-away-from-home.’”

As they prepared for their latest journey back to Peru, Deysi said she wants every current and future donor and volunteer to know how much their kindness is appreciated.

“Everybody gives their time to this place…I didn’t think I would find a place where we could feel at home,” Effio-Benites reflected.

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