Ryann's Story - RMHC Ottawa

At 17 years old, Ryann Collins and her parents stayed at Ronald McDonald House Charities Ottawa for 130 nights while she battled cancer in 2023. This video takes a look into her cancer battle at CHEO and what it means to families to have a warm, supportive place like Ronald McDonald House to stay at right next door.

At Ronald McDonald House, we keep families close together while going through some of the hardest days of their lives with children in hospital.

This video was donated to our House in 2024 by ‪@AjaxCreative‬. An incredible team came together in February, in Ottawa, and for two days they captured footage at Ronald McDonald House Ottawa and ‪@CHEOvideos‬ CHEO Hospital. We were joined by our alumni Collins family (Ryann, Mike and Deb) who shared their emotional journey with Ryann's leukemia, while being taken care of by RMHC Ottawa.

Our sincere thanks to the families in the House who offered to also be in the video, our long-time volunteer Kathryn in the kitchen, ‪@OttawaTherapyDogs‬ Julie and Isaac, and the editing team at ROOSTER Post Production for also donating their time in-kind to us and Ajax to beautifully finish this piece.

We couldn't have achieved the incredible story telling in the hospital without permission from CHEO, the clinicians and awesome staff at Bone Density, Cardiology, and Oncology. Thank you for being our amazing hospital partners CHEO!