Diana is a darling girl who has certainly been through a lot in her little life. She was brought to the attention of Love Without Boundaries in March this year when she was brought to our Anhui Cleft Healing Home. Diana was so tiny, weighing a mere 2kg! In addition to having a cleft lip and palate, she was thought to have been born prematurely.
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Cody arrived at our Anhui Cleft Healing Home (ACHH) at just six weeks of age. He was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate and came to ACHH to receive individual care so that he would be ready for cleft lip surgery in a few months. However, when he arrived he was pale, not very responsive, and appeared very weak with fever and diarrhea. Quite concerned for little Cody, our staff brought him to have a medical evaluation the very next day. At that examination, the doctor felt that Cody may actually have been born prematurely and showed signs of serious malnutrition. Cody was admitted directly to the newborn baby floor for medication to treat the diarrhea and fevers and for nutrition support. However, that was just the beginning.
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Hank is an adorable seven-month-old baby who has a dazzling smile! This little boy came to the Medical program when he was only days old. He was in critical condition and, at three days old, was moved to the hospital. Hank was born with a urologic defect called anal atresia and immediately received the first of a three-stage surgery. Without this surgery, Hank would have died within days.
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Available Soon: A beautiful, airy 8-9 bedroom, 6 bath villa in lovely Fujian Province with a spacious garden. Perfect for a host of babies and their loving nannies!
One of the main purposes of our recent trip to China was to finalize the details for our fourth healing home – this one located in the Fujian Province. This new home will be a combination of our cleft healing home and our Heartbridge healing unit models – with one floor dedicated entirely to vulnerable babies with cleft and one floor dedicated to children with other medical needs, such as preemies, those born with heart disease, etc. The need for these homes continues to increase, as almost every orphanage we spoke with on this trip told us that 98% of the children now being abandoned have medical needs. As we stood in the orphanage infant/baby rooms on this trip, we clearly saw this reality. Every crib is filled with babies with medical issues, ranging from heart defects to spina bifada to cleft lip and palate. In the past it was already a daunting task for an aunty to care for 10 to 15 “healthy” newborns at once. Now their jobs are even more difficult as they attempt to care for the same number of babies, but ones with often serious medical needs.
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This morning as I was slowly jogging around our neighborhood, I couldn’t get the words to the song “Run Baby Run” out of my mind. Not that I know all of the words, nor am I really a runner. But I am in a family of runners and we are all gearing up to “run baby run baby run” – for orphaned children in China.
Love Without Boundaries has a team running in the 35th annual Marine Corps Marathon held in Washington DC on October 31st. My husband, Ben, will be trying to keep up with our oldest son and daughter in this year’s Marine Corps Marathon. Our youngest five children are running in the kids’ Fun Run held the day before, and they’ve already started training – they ALL want to be first. What they don’t realize is that the “real” winners will be the babies the funds will help through LWB.
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Early one morning during our recent trip to China, we made a visit to our Henan Cleft Healing Home (HCHH), located in Kaifeng. It is SO lovely. It is completely like being in an extended family’s apartment, and all the aunties and babies are so happy. This home is run by Stephanie Wang, a lovely young woman who has poured her whole heart into making sure all the babies have their every need met.
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Hannah arrived at Heartbridge on May 14th, just a few days before our manager Cindy made her mid-month visit. Hannah has a very complicated set of special needs, with a VSD (hole between the chambers of her heart), Mirror-Image Dextrocardia (her heart is on the right side of her chest), and also Pierre Robin Syndrome. This is a cranio-facial abnormality in which the lower jaw is much smaller than normal. In Hannah’s case, this has caused a high-arched palate, cleft lip on the right side, a very small mouth, and her tongue is missing.
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Amy meeting baby Sam at the Henan Cleft Healing Home
As many of you know, travelling in China can be an exhilarating — but exhausting experience. Our three intrepid travellers — Paige, Amy and Sheri — have been extremely busy and can’t wait to share their stories with us! However, they are having some computer and internet problems in China and will therefore post tales of their travels when they return home next week. In the meantime, here are a few photos from their adventures!
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What a wonderful way to start our trip! Our 18-bed Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit, in partnership with the New Hope Foundation, is truly creating miracles each and every day. The children we send to Heartbridge are the most vulnerable medical children of all –- and yet when you walk through the doors, you are met by children who are so happy. Well, all except maybe for Nathan who cried every time the strangers with blonde hair came near him!
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The bags are full to brimming with medical supplies and baby vitamins; we’ve got bubbles and matchbox cars and necklaces and stickers; and just like on my adoption trips…..I have a million different thoughts and emotions running through my mind as I prepare to board the plane to China for our week-long visit with many of the people involved with LWB.
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