LWB Community

Giving Thanks for Our Supporters

When we first saw baby Delyth’s photos after her orphanage called us for help, we honestly weren’t sure if she would survive.  She was just so tiny and weak from her complex heart condition, and in every photo her mouth was open wide as she struggled for oxygen.

Delyth was able to have open heart surgery as soon as she was stabilized, and then she was moved to one of our healing homes.  Today we give special thanks for all of the people who support our medical program – as we think everyone would agree that this world is a better place with Delyth in it.
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Giving Thanks for Adaptive Equipment

Wheelchairs and other adaptive equipment such as leg braces and walkers are vital to the mobility and development of children with handicaps. They can help a kid be a kid…as Chelsie is so willingly demonstrating below!

Chelsie has starred in several blogs lately (“Chelsie: Longing to Learn” and “The One and Only Chelsie”) because she is available for adoption on the shared list. Finding her forever family would be a dream come true for Chelsie because she desperately wants to attend school and is currently unable to do so in China due to her disability. She is smart as a whip and ready to learn.
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Giving Thanks for Saved Lives

How wonderful to give thanks today for sweet Maya. This gorgeous teen was born with a heart condition which was not able to be corrected until just last year. All of her friends in the orphanage celebrated when they heard her operation was successful. Maya is now attending junior high school, and we count her saved life as one of our greatest blessings.
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The One and Only Chelsie

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. ~Dr. Seuss

One of the most fabulous things about people is that we are each unique.  A combination of our innate personality and environmental influences will eventually create the adult we become, and children in particular allow their innate personality to shine through without inhibition.  When reading the reports of the many children who we are fortunate to assist through our programs, one is reminded constantly of how each individual child has unique needs and is reached in a different way. Chelsie is a girl whose drive and curiosity set her apart.
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Tara: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Being born with clubfoot is a very common limb defect. Early treatment is much easier for the child and usually results in a relatively normal foot appearance and function. LWB is grateful to be working with An Orphan’s Wish, which operates a facility specializing in clubfoot casting using the gentle Ponseti method. Children sent to this facility receive clubfoot casting treatment and care, bracing and physical therapy as necessary, as well as educational services… all in a loving environment.  By partnering together, we are able to help more orphaned children in China receive the specialized care they need.

Because each child’s situation and medical circumstances are unique, it is difficult to predict exactly how long the casting process will take to get the best possible outcome. Funds that were originally raised can be depleted and yet a child may need to stay longer to complete their casting. Tara, a beautiful girl being helped by LWB, is in just that situation.
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Zane Takes a Break

The last time we met up with Zane, we imagined that he was hard at work writing a memo to his future family. It seems that they are not responding as quickly as he had hoped, and he is still waiting for them! So while he waits, he’s decided to take a break from work and play for awhile…like the ten-year-old boy that he is.

Zane was once a a boy with unhealthy blue lips and fingers who caught the eyes of one of our medical team in photos taken at his orphanage in Zhejiang. Sponsors from around the world stepped in to fund his heart surgery (see “Zane’s Miracle”), and now he is no longer blue…and has energy to spare!
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Busy Boy Landon

Four-year-old Landon was introduced on our blog in May, and he continues to grow and develop new skills while he waits to be matched with a family.

As busy as always, Landon eats well to maintain his energy, gobbling up his vegetables and rice and finishing it off with milk and sometimes a treat. Landon has a twinkle in his eye and is described as being a bit mischievous! He likes to play with his friends at school, where he can run about during the day and build with blocks.
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“Big Brother” Blake

A group of volunteers were visiting an orphanage in May when they met a sweet, almost seven-year-old boy who was having difficulty breathing as well as noticeable clubbing of the fingers & toes. When these volunteers inquired about him, they were told that his heart condition was quite severe and inoperable. They reached out to LWB’s Medical director to see if there was any way to help this bright boy, whom they named Blake. By the first week in July, Blake had arrived at the hospital for testing so the doctors could determine exactly what was going on with his heart. He was naturally scared at the beginning, but it didn’t take long for his sunny personality to shine!

Blake’s ever-present smile!

Fortunately, the doctors determined that Blake’s condition was operable, and he had life-saving surgery on July 22nd. Within a few days, his energy level increased and he quickly became the “big brother” to all of the heart babies arriving.
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Keeping Families Together

In 2005 one of the LWB directors was traveling to our cleft exchange in Henan Province. On the train he saw a young couple holding a baby boy with cleft lip, and the mother was quite distraught. After watching them for a while, he introduced himself and asked where they were going. It was then that the mom broke down and told him that they were from a province far out west. They did not have the funds to pay for the surgery to repair their baby’s cleft lip, and so their extended family had told them that they must abandon the child so as not to bring shame to the family. They were so ashamed by what they felt they had to do that they were traveling all the way across China to abandon him. When our director called to let us know what was happening on the train, we decided to encourage the couple bring him to the cleft exchange site so that our medical team could repair their baby’s lip. Instead of returning home to their home province in despair, they joyfully returned home with a baby who had been healed. For many years we have remained in touch with them, and the family is doing beautifully. It was experiences like this chance encounter that made us realize that perhaps we could help rural families stay together, instead of having to make the terrible and tragic decision to abandon their child in the hopes that their children would then receive medical care.

Jaimei and her parents

LWB’s Unity Fund was established to assist rural, impoverished families with medical costs they simply cannot afford for their children.
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Hopeful Hal: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Baby Hal truly is a miracle! This baby has looked death in the face several times already, and he is still fighting. Doctors have said, “He cannot survive,” and he has.

Hal, which means “strength,” is a newborn who was likely abandoned because he was born with a life-threatening intestinal malformation. The local hospital did his first surgery, but then Hal took a turn for the worse and the doctors didn’t think he would survive. A local nurse that works with Hal’s orphanage contacted LWB, and he was immediately moved to a pediatric hospital in Shanghai.
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