Calvin Ambagis was advanced for his age. At just seven months old he could use a fork, and by eight months he was already walking. By the time he reached a year-and-a-half, his motor skills were “amazing,” his mother Crystal said.

He was also a remarkably happy kid- if you made eye contact with Calvin, he’d flash you a big, boyish grin. He loved to run and play and he especially loved tools — just like his dad. That was just Calvin — cheerful, lovable and full of energy.

But one afternoon in May, everything changed. It was Crystal’s birthday that day, but instead of making big plans, the Ambagis’ opted to stay home and spend time as a family. In the early evening, Calvin went in for a bath.

“My son drowned in the bathtub at home,” Crystal said. “My husband resuscitated him and they worked on him for quite a while before they life-flighted him to Community Medical Center [in Missoula].” It was every parent’s worst nightmare.

Calvin survived the trip from Conner to Missoula with the help of a breathing machine. He spent eight days in the hospital under heavy sedatives. All the Ambagis’ could do was wait and hope for a flicker of the boy they knew and loved; any sign telling them he was still there.

Crystal and her husband Luke spent most of those days in the hospital with Calvin, and at night, they stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Missoula. The Ronald McDonald House gave the family an affordable means of being close to their son and a safe haven where they could retire at the end of the day.

“It was amazing. I don’t know how well we would have done without being able to go over there and be alone, have peace and quiet, take a shower and take a nap and have a nice place to sleep,” she said. The House was their refuge from the emotional trials of the hospital environment. It gave them time and space to process the unfathomable. When extended family came to visit, RMH took them into the fold, no questions asked.

“We’d try to get about six hours of sleep. We pretty much spent most of our time at the hospital with Calvin,” Crystal said. “It got really hard to be there all of the time — just to have that hour or two hours to go over to the Ronald McDonald House to have time to yourself and try to process what was going on was really, really needed. My whole family talks about how amazing the staff were and how accommodating.” It was one less thing the Ambagis’ had to worry about. They could keep their focus where it needed to be — on their 18-month-old little boy.

As the days wore on, Calvin’s condition remained unchanged. For much of his stay, he was in a state called comatose conscious. “He opened his eyes, but there was nothing there,” Crystal said. The little boy that they knew and loved, with his infectious smile and expressive face, was gone. And on May 19, Calvin passed away.

Now, Crystal talks about her son in the past tense. Things he loved. Activities he did. Words he said. She’ll remember all this about him and more.

The Ronald McDonald House has also earned a space in her memory. It was a refuge when they needed it — a place where they could come together at the end of a long day. Most importantly, they were able to make the most of the minutes they had left with their son.

“I learned what unconditional love really is in the way I loved him and how he loved me right back tenfold,” Crystal said. “He made me slow down and taught me to enjoy a much slower paced life.”