Crystal Lake Family Featured In Ronald McDonald Ad

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL —A Crystal Lake family is featured in a recent ad campaign for Ronald McDonald House Charities. The Backe family has utilized Ronald McDonald housing in Oak Lawn when their daughter, Everly, now 2 years old, underwent various operations for a heart defect she was born with, according to a news release from Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

Everly's life-threatening heart condition has meant the young child has had to undergo three open-heart surgeries, two cardiac catheterizations and one infection wash out surgery. Everly was admitted to the hospital six times before she turned 1 and will continue to need open-heart surgeries throughout the rest of her life, Ronald McDonald officials said.

One of those surgeries is likely to happen at some point in the next year, according to the news release.

Through multiple surgeries, Everly’s parents, Lauren and Matt, and older brother, Jack, relied on Ronald McDonald House to keep them close.

“When Everly is in the hospital and looking for me, I don’t want to be two hours away. I want to be two minutes away," according to Lauren.

And Ronald McDonald House Charities offered the family much more than just a place to sleep.

“I rarely left the hospital to eat, so when a day didn’t go as planned and I missed lunch and dinner, the fact that volunteers had a meal in the fridge with my name on it when I got back to the house at 3 a.m. meant I actually ate that day,” said Lauren.

The support and community the family felt during their stay at the Ronald McDonald house inspired her 7-year-old brother to help other families by spearheading a pop tab collection effort to raise money for Ronald McDonald Charities. Jack Backe has already delivered his first million, according to Ronald McDonald officials.

"We had no idea how helpful Ronald McDonald House was until we had a medically fragile child. We have a great family, we have great friends, we have a great support system, but if we didn’t have the Ronald McDonald House, things would be so much more challenging," Lauren said in the advertisement touting the benefits of Ronald McDonald House Charities.