Cleft trips are always emotionally and physically exhausting. The months of preparation, the long plane rides, the huge, overweight suitcases that are wrestled through the airports and begged through check-in without overweight fees, the physical aliments in a foreign country, and the long, hard hours in an unfamiliar hospital all become insignificant compared to the moment that the first child comes back from the operating room. Read more.
Today one of the volunteers said it is a shame that these trips don’t last two weeks, as everyone has truly hit their stride, and the entire China/American team is working seamlessly together to help the kids.
Thursday morning was very busy as many rural families came to the hospital to check in and lots of babies were being discharged. The OR day began at 8 a.m. with two local children going into surgery for palate repairs. Xian was Dr. Ness’ first patient today. She is a very beautiful girl with a very attentive dad. Dr. Ness said that she was so lovely that he wanted to do a lip revision as well as her palate so that she wouldn’t have any scar at all. Read more.
Zachary is a happy, bubbly eight-month-old bundle of pure joy! Born with a severe abdominal blockage and also two small heart defects, Zach has already gone through one major surgery and two hospital stays for pneumonia. Although Zachary has healed nicely from his abdominal surgery, he will stay with us at Heartbridge for awhile longer. We will continue to monitor his heart (hoping his defects will heal on their own) and also give those fragile lungs some extra TLC so he can hopefully stay out of the hospital.
Zachary is a favorite of visitors due to his easy disposition and gorgeous smile. He is in need of additional sponsors. Read more.
A visit to our Heartbridge Healing Home is always a treat, and last month’s visit was no exception. The children there, who once were very weak and fragile, are thriving. You would never suspect from looking at and playing with these children the odds they have overcome. Attentive nannies, quality nutrition, and lots of TLC make an unbeatable combination! Here are some of the beautiful faces from our visit.
Adrienne, seen above, babbled away to us, probably telling us about the great care she has received at Heartbridge. Read more.
Tiny Brody is the newest addition to our Heartbridge family. He was born in late November with a serious abdominal blockage. By the time Brody came into orphanage care a week later, he was in critical condition. Fortunately LWB’s medical team was able to arrange for emergency surgery the very next day. While our volunteers awaited news on Brody’s condition, we all hoped and prayed that this sweet baby boy would survive. Read more.
Coming in at #9 in our Top Ten Photos of 2011 is the unstoppable Emily. Baby Emily came into LWB’s hands from an orphanage in Fujian Province. She was born with a medical condition requiring a very specialized surgery. We were so grateful when Dr. Ngan with MedArt agreed to take her case, and Emily traveled to Hong Kong to undergo a very complex operation.
This photo was taken in May, about one month after returning to our Heartbridge Healing Home, a unit for babies who need more specialized care. At 14 months, finally able to spend some time on her tummy, Emily wasted no time learning how to “army crawl” around the room. Read more.
As we head into this wonderful season of Thanksgiving, we would like to share some of the things we are especially grateful for with you – our great supporters who make this work possible.
Today we celebrate little Marisol, who fought so hard following her heart surgery and beat all the odds. This gorgeous little girl, who spent many months on a respirator, is now charming everyone who meets her at our Heartbridge Healing Home. We give thanks for true second chances.
Read more.
Tiny Diana was born in November 2010 and came into orphanage care with a severe abdominal defect called bladder exstrophy. Diana’s bladder formed on the outside of her body, and she needs a very specialized surgery that is not available in mainland China. It quickly became clear to orphanage staff that Diana was going to need a great deal of extra care before she could even be considered for surgery, so LWB volunteers worked to make room for her in our Heartbridge Healing Home.
Diana weighed a scant 3.5 kg (7.7 pounds) upon her arrival in February… much too small for a three-month-old baby. Over the next seven months Diana managed to gain nearly six pounds, but she is still very delicate.
Read more.
The first thing I thought when I read through Hannah’s reports and saw her photos from this past year was “WOW!” This amazing little girl has come such a long way. I have often wondered where the strength to survive comes from in a child who was as small as Hannah was when she came into our care. Is there truly an innate strength each person is born with that is called upon when they are distressed?
Read more.
Today we got the news that no one ever wants to hear. At 4:35 in the afternoon in China today, sweet baby Evan had a sudden heart attack and passed away. He had been happy and alert all afternoon, and so no one expected this to happen. I once again was reminded of the fragility of life, and how none of us can ever know how many days we have left on this earth.
Evan when he first came into LWB hands
Evan was from southern China, from an orphanage who was new to international adoption and who was a bit nervous about handing over one of their babies to us for care, even though they knew he had a very severe heart defect. The director of the orphanage called our staff many times, making sure our healing home would be a nice place for Evan to live, and wanting reassurance that we would care for him gently.
Read more.
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