LINO LAKES, Minn. — Surrounded by family, Eleanor Evenson celebrated her 10th birthday at a fitting location: The McDonald’s restaurant where she entered the world.
“I think it’s kind of unique,” Eleanor says. “I’m the only one in my family that was born at a McDonalds.”
Ten years ago, Eleanor’s parents and her grandmother were driving north on I-35 in Lino Lakes when Eleanor’s mom felt the need to use a bathroom.
“Notoriously, McDonald’s has really clean bathrooms,” laughs Clare Evenson, who now lives, with her family, in Minnetonka.
Clare says she went into the stall in the women’s restroom, “and quite literally two little feet popped out.”
Clare’s baby was arriving 12 weeks early – breech.
Eric Evenson, Eleanor’s dad, had remained in the car with his mother-in-law who began to wonder why Clare was taking so long.
“As soon as we got out of the car, we could hear the screaming – so then we ran in,” Eric says.
Eric helped move Clare from the stall to the bathroom floor.
Not long after, Angi Kruyer, at the time a Centennial Lakes police officer, responded to a call for help.
“When I threw open the door, what a sight it was,” Angi says. “I just started barking orders.”
Clare lay on a blanket a customer had retrieved from her own car.
“I do remember officer Angi and my mom helping me deliver Eleanor,” Clare says. “And when she was out, officer Angi and I working together to resuscitate her.”
Clare, a registered nurse, could see that Eleanor wasn’t breathing. Clare performed chest compressions, while Angi used a mask and bag to help Eleanor breathe.
When she arrived by ambulance at the hospital, Eleanor weighed just two pounds.
Her McDonald’s birth earned a short story in the StarTribune.
But Eleanor's recovery lingered far beyond the time frame of breaking news.
Eleanor spent the first 113 days of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit at Gillette Children’s Hospital, and that was far from the end of it.
“I think we were re-admitted a dozen times,” her father says.
“She had nurses at home until she went to kindergarten,” Clare adds.
A chromosome abnormality meant Eleanor would need multiple surgeries and years of therapy.
She’s overcome a lot.
So, Eleanor’s 10th birthday is a big reason to celebrate.
Eleanor agrees, saying, she’s “very excited to be 10.”
Clare and Eric talked with their daughter and decided the perfect place for her birthday party would be the McDonald’s where Eleanor started her life.
It would be their first trip back, exactly 10 years to the day of Eleanor’s birth.
“Happy Birthday!” Eleanor’s grandmother shouts as Eleanor enters the McDonald's with her parents and two younger sisters.
She spends the next few minutes exchanging hugs and kisses with relatives, including an honorary member of the family.
“Hi, birthday girl, how are you?” officer Angi asks Eleanor as the two embrace. “Look how tall you are!” an amazed Angi says.
“I'm not a nurse, I'm not a doctor, I'm just a cop, but she's my success,” the proud officer, now working for Metro Transit, says. “She’s healthy, she’s 10. I never thought 10 years ago that we would see this day.”
A McDonald’s employee delivers cake to the party. The restaurant also presents Eleanor with a present, a purse in the shape of an oversized container of McDonald’s french fries.
“I supposed you would remember someone giving birth in your McDonald’s,” Clare says” But they were so kind and so welcoming and now,” she laughs, “I've destroyed the place twice.”
And maybe they'll be back.
After all, next year is Eleanor's golden birthday.
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