Written by Maggie Graham

The halls of Erlanger Hospital often ring with cheers at the news of a child finally going home – an announcement Shanelle Reeves-Wright knew well, and one she hoped would soon be reason for celebration within her own family.

Originally from Cartersville, Georgia, Reeves-Wright was five months into her pregnancy when she and her husband, Otis Wright, learned they would need to deliver their firstborn 15 weeks early at Erlanger Hospital: over seventy-seven miles from home.

“All of a sudden it was like, oh, you’re going to pack up by ambulance, and we’re sending you to Erlanger,” Reeves-Wright recalls. “Didn’t know what that was, didn’t know where that was, and we were both like, what’s an Erlanger?”

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The premature birth of her firstborn son was caused by preeclampsia, a pregnancy condition marked by high blood pressure that can only be treated through early delivery. After Otis Jr. was admitted into the NICU, the Ronald McDonald House, an inviting brick home across the street from Erlanger, provided the Reeves-Wright family with a place to stay as he received care.

Over the course of 93 days, the halls of the Ronald McDonald House became a place of comfort for the Reeves-Wright family, and a place where Reeves-Wright met a lifelong friend.

Reeves-Wright was in the great room at the Ronald McDonald House when she noticed another mother, Ellora, filling bags with breast milk for her daughter, something Reeves-Wright had been doing for her own son. In offering the mother one of her own bags, the two were able to connect with each other.

“The next day she saw me in the kitchen getting breakfast,” said Reeves-Wright. “Her little one in the NICU had had a rough day, and I know how that feels. It’s just important for me that that was a thing for both of us, and that interaction turned into a friendship to this day.”

After the family’s stay at RMHC, Otis Jr. traveled home with his parents in good health. But, on June 16th, the Reeves-Wright family returned with Penelope, their second child, who was born 25 weeks premature for the same reason that led Otis Jr. to an early delivery.

“I was a little bit optimistic and certainly disappointed that we had to do this a second time around,” said Reeves-Wright. “But, I was eased from those negative feelings because we knew the phenomenal staff we have at Erlanger.”

For Reeves-Wright, the support system she had built through the volunteers, staff, and shared experiences at RMHC and Erlanger made the whole experience more manageable.

“I call them all superheroes, from the nurses, to respiratory, to janitorial staff,” said Reeves-Wright. “Everybody in that hospital that you even come in contact with – they’re friendly. You can tell they love what they’re doing.”

After 3 months in the NICU, Reeves-Wright received the news that Penelope would soon be getting discharged, though it didn’t look exactly how she had expected.

“Penelope will be going home with a G-tube placed in her belly, and potentially oxygen,” said Reeves-Wright. “We’re over-the-moon excited, of course, but also nervous because of that.”

But, more than anything, Reeves-Wright is happy to finally have her family whole and under one roof. After a 106-day stay in the NICU, Penelope will finally be able to meet her older brother, Otis Jr., something he has been looking forward to since her birth.

“I cannot wait for them to meet, to play together, to grow together. Big brother has been saying sister nonstop, so I know he’s excited,” said Reeves-Wright. “I’m just looking forward to it, and I’m so happy it’s finally going to happen.”

As for Erlanger and the Ronald McDonald House, Reeves-Wright considers the separation bittersweet. While she looks forward to what’s to come, leaving behind the people, relationships, and experiences that shaped her time there makes the transition difficult.

“We may not come back as parents, but we’ve made it clear that we will be back to visit just to say hello, just for them to see how Penelope has grown, to bring them gifts on special occasions. We will be forever family and connected because of what they’ve done for us.”

Reeves-Wright looks at her time in Chattanooga not just as a difficult chapter, but as an experience that changed her as a mom.

“I’m able to shift when it comes to things that I expect, and how they come out,” said Reeves-Wright. “Both pregnancies were not expected the way that I had planned it on paper. So, it definitely has taught me patience.”

After months of lessons in patience, expectations, and parenthood, the Reeves-Wright family is finally preparing for the moment they have been anticipating for 106 days: bringing Penelope home.

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The House Love Built

Written by Maggie Graham

Inside the walls of the Ronald McDonald House, sizzling pans and the clanking of silverware remind the families staying there that they are surrounded by a community ready to support them.

Rachel Smalley has experienced many of the roles volunteers can take on at the house: from cooking and cleaning to greeting families and sorting donations.

“Really, there’s a lot of ways to help out at the house,” said Smalley. “So, depending on what your skill set is or what you like to do, they can really find you a spot anywhere.”

Smalley, a junior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, discovered RMHC through a campus organization and has now been a dedicated volunteer for over two years.

“It has been probably the best part of my college experience,” she said. “It just brings me so much joy to be there, whether it’s a day where I leave with the biggest smile on my face or a really heavy heart for a family that I just met, my experience has just been nothing but joy and fulfillment.”

Through her time as a volunteer, Smalley has had the opportunity to watch as families come and go, and bond with those who stay long enough to know her by name. In particular, Smalley recalls one woman she watched blossom into a mother over the course of a few weeks.

After encountering her a few times while volunteering, Smalley learned that the woman had a child in the NICU, and the child’s journey was a point of increasing anxiety for her.

“On the third time I was cooking that month, I saw her again, and I was just checking in, and she showed me this little piece of paper. It was a footprint of her daughter,” said Smalley. “With tears in her eyes, she told me that she had gotten to hold her baby for the first time that day, after weeks of just feeling hopeless. To share that moment with her, I was like, wow, this is something that’s way bigger than me.”

That moment stayed with Smalley long after the woman returned home with her daughter. For her, it was a reminder of why she keeps coming back: not just to volunteer, but to offer families comfort and community during their most uncertain moments.

“I can personally never imagine what it feels like to have an extension of yourself in a child, and then have that stripped from you for a time, and feel like you don’t have anywhere to turn,” Smalley said. “So, for RMHC to provide that for families, like, personally, I want nothing more than to be a part of that.”

A warm meal, a clean bed and a smiling face cannot change what a family is facing, but they can serve as a reminder that they do not have to face it alone. As Smalley beams at the memory of her time spent in the house, she hopes her acts of service can give the families at RMHC that reminder.

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