Tanya O'Rourke

Dec 5, 2024 | wcpo.com | Tanya O'Rourke

CINCINNATI — Venita Turner has a giving heart — a heart for service and loving the Lord. And Turner's heart is brand new. On Dec. 8, 2023, a Missouri man named Gregory lost his life. That same day, surgeons at The Christ Hospital placed his heart in Venita's chest, and it's been beating strong and true ever since. "I instantly started praying for this family," Turner said.

Nov 20, 2024 | journal-news.com | Tanya O'Rourke

“It’s absolutely free,” said Sarah Curry, the Ronald McDonald House’s communications manager. “We just want the snowflakes. We want to put them on the windows, we want to cover the windows, we want to really blanket our entire house.”ExploreThe families that stay at Ronald McDonald House have a child receiving treatment at Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center. Those stays can often last weeks. And when people are away from their homes during the holidays, life can seem a little bit tougher.

Nov 19, 2024 | wcpo.com | Tanya O'Rourke

CINCINNATI — For the fourth year in a row, the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati is asking community members to lend their names to snowflakes that hang on their windows and walls, making it a brighter place for those staying in the House throughout the holidays. The Send A Snowflake campaign doesn't cost any money. "It's absolutely free," said Sarah Curry, the Ronald McDonald House's communications manager. "We just want the snowflakes.

Nov 7, 2024 | wcpo.com | Tanya O'Rourke

CINCINNATI — Just inside Nancy and Mike Brown's modest house in Indian Hill is a plate of cookies. "I didn't make them," Mrs. Brown says as she giggles and offers them to me and my photographer, Rob Pieper. She admits she doesn't really enjoy cooking, but she wants to make sure we have a snack. Petite and vivacious, Nancy Brown welcomes us in and tells us the first of many secrets: That she hasn't told anyone in her family that she's agreed to do this interview.

Oct 2, 2024 | wcpo.com | Tanya O'Rourke

MAINEVILLE, Ohio — Ashton Hawkins is a girly girl. At 8 years old, she loves makeup, painted fingernails and dolls. She would love to have pretty bows in her hair, but her mom says she won't leave the house without a hat on. The two surgeries, rounds of radiation and chemotherapy Hawkins has undergone to fight her brain cancer have robbed her of her hair. Her mother, Amanda, remembers the day her daughter decided to shave off the wisps of hair dotting her head. "She didn't cry," she said.