Give a Little Love: Boy finds support at Ronald McDonald House
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- On Thursday, CBS3 will present the 13th annual Ronald McDonald House Charities Telethon. CBS3 calls it Give a Little Love and will be raising money to help the four Ronald McDonald Houses in our area.
Families from all over the world seek top-notch medical care, and even though they're far from home, they quickly become part of a community inside the Ronald McDonald House.
The 13-year-old Jorge Farro, for example, found many friends at the charity.
"I play wheelchair basketball, I play sled hockey, I play wheelchair racing," he said.
Farro is living with arthrogryposis. The condition affects the range of motion in his joints but he doesn't let it slow him down.
"Before I wasn't really confident like I am now," he said.
Farro is from Peru and he's been coming to the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey since he was about 9 months old.
"I met a lot of people from here really," he said. "And I keep in contact with them before they leave. Makes me feel really thankful because I usually have a lot of pain but when I'm with my friends I don't have any pain at all."
"Sometimes he's like, 'when is my next surgery?' Because he wants to stay here for a few weeks," Fatima Vega, Farro's mother, said.
She says their stays at the Ronald McDonald House have shown them that they're not alone.
"It was amazing because it was a lot just going through surgeries and stuff like that. But, just to find a place that you could feel like you were calm, and you had a roof that you could feel safe, it was a lot. And the people here are always very nice and they make you feel comfortable," Vega said.
The Ronald McDonald House is truly a home away from home for so many families.
Consider giving a little love to children in need by supporting CBS3's telethon on Thursday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on CBS 3 and CBS News Philadelphia.