Rosemarie's Story

When she was 13 months old, Rosemarie was diagnosed with stage-four neuroblastoma, meaning a cancer that had started as a tumor in her abdomen had spread to bones all over her body, including her skull. After exhausting treatment options in Toledo and undergoing a stem cell transplant in Columbus, Rosemarie and her parents came to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in January 2010 for chemotherapy. When the chemotherapy treatments didn't work, they opted to try an alternative study using an antibody that works with the body to stop the cancer from reproducing.
So far, the cancer hasn't responded to the treatment, but it also hasn't spread.
Roseann, Ryan and Rosemarie Todd have been making the four-hour drive back and forth between Castalia and Cincinnati for almost a year now. Roseann and Ryan drop their 10-year-old daughter, Katee, off at Roseann's mom's house in Castalia, then drive to Cincinnati with Rosemarie on Wednesdays and leave for home on Fridays, with Rosemarie receiving treatment at Cincinnati Children's on Thursdays. Every eight weeks, however, their stays are longer while doctors run scans on Rosemarie to check the treatment's progress.
Although there is no end in sight to their trips to Cincinnati, the Todds are happy to have a place like Ronald McDonald House to call their "home away from home."
"Rosemarie loves Ronald McDonald House," Roseann says. "She loves that there's so much to do, and she loves having other kids to play with."
Some of her favorite things to do at the House are playing outside on the playground or in the arts and crafts room. She also loves painting the nails of volunteers she's befriended.
Learn more at their website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/ros...