10 Nov Leach Family Story

My name is Robin Leach, and we are a very large family. I have seven children! My oldest is Turtle, and he is 19. I have a daughter named Sailor who is 17, a son named Manoah who is 15. I have a son named Anchor, and he just turned 10. I have a daughter named Waverly who is 7. I have another daughter named Island, and she’s 4. And lastly, I have a little son named Fisher who is almost 2. We have been coming to the Ronald McDonald House for about five years now. And we’ve lived in Idaho for seven years. We didn’t know about the Ronald McDonald House when we first moved here, it wasn’t until we had gone to a family event that someone had mentioned it to us, and I said I didn’t even know this place existed. Tell me more about it.

So, my children and I all have a lifelong bleeding disorder called Von Willebrand, a blood clotting disorder. This basically means we’re like hemophiliacs, but we’re just missing a part of our blood to make it clot. Because of this bleeding disorder, we have to come to Boise from our home for doctor’s appointments. And we live in Rigby, Idaho, which is about four and a half hours from Boise. We also come up here yearly for annual checkups, as well as to see specialists in Boise. So, we are in Boise quite often because I have seven children, and life gets a little crazy and hectic, and we’re unfortunately not always the healthiest.

As I mentioned, we’ve been coming and staying at the Ronald McDonald House for 5 years, which means we’ve stayed at the Ronald McDonald House when it was the smaller one next door to the current House that we’re in now. Back when there were only 16 smaller rooms, we squeezed six or seven of us in one bedroom there. I’m sure enjoying having the new House because there’s a lot more space, it makes us feel like we’re not on top of each other’s toes all the time.

We’re really grateful for this place, and to be able to stay, because without it, honestly, it would be a really big hardship for our family. With seven kids, it’s a lot. My kids look forward to it all the time. The staff becomes family and not just friends! Even if it’s just a quick one-night stay, or if it ends up being a month-long stay like we’ve done before. It’s just nice to know that we have a safe place to stay. We don’t have to stress about food or money or gas or anything. Thank you. Thank you!

~ Leach Family | Rigby, ID | Numerous Stays at the House for the Past 5 Years