Have you ever read about a new arrival to one of our healing homes and wondered about how that little one ended up there? We know our volunteers make it look fairly effortless, but the reality is that a whole lot of communication and travel are usually involved before a new baby is safely tucked into her new home. Read more.
All of us at LWB sure are happy that Dr. John Ness came into this world a few decades ago. Before we tell you about the surgery day, we just want to thank this very special man, who has traveled with LWB on cleft trips multiple times to change the lives of so many children. We had an extra special surprise for him today, when we asked him to sit back on one of the hospital beds so the very grateful nannies could make a “baby pile” on his lap in honor of all he has done. Following the photo, the nannies all sang a very special happy birthday song in Chinese to him. Later that night he was presented with a dragon cake, and we hope this was a birthday he will never forget. Read more.
It took quite awhile for me to fall asleep on Sunday night, as I was thinking about what a huge responsibility our team feels for the children who have come to Kaifeng this week for their cleft repairs. Before I traveled, I of course knew that we would be putting babies to sleep in the OR for their surgeries, but it wasn’t until yesterday, when I met these incredible kids in person, that the full weight of wanting everything to go smoothly became the heaviest. I am so grateful to all of the donors and supporters for LWB who are making these surgeries possible. The nannies and foster moms have such obvious hopes for their children to be healed. You are making such a difference in their lives. Read more.
It’s Wednesday morning and in five days, the 2012 Cleft Medical Exchange will commence surgeries for almost 50 children at Kaifeng Children’s Hospital in Henan Province. While I’m excited, my more overwhelming emotion is nervousness. I have been involved with Love Without Boundaries for eight years, but this is the first time I’m traveling on a medical trip. Performing 50 surgeries in a week is a daunting task in a familiar environment, but one can imagine the logistical issues of doing this from 5,000 miles away, in a state of the art, yet unfamiliar hospital, with many of the children arriving from hundreds of miles away. But therein lies the heart of why I adore LWB, and why I am honored to be associated with this wonderful organization.
Read more.
Visiting the Henan Healing Home is always a wonderful experience. While this home might be small in size (with room for eight babies), it is HUGE on love.
Amy and Sheri snuggling with the babies at the Henan Healing Home
We have been working with a rural orphanage over the last year that really struggles with their babies born with cleft lip. We have a very good partnership in place where they contact us about their newly abandoned babies, and we move them to our Henan Healing Home as soon as we can. In February, we had taken in two new babies who were both really vulnerable and tiny when they arrived. Some of you may remember when little Bennett and Abby arrived to our home, neither weighing more than 3 kg. As we got new pictures of them each week, I could tell that their faces were starting to fill out, but it was hard to gauge just how small they were since the photos were normally closeups of their faces. Read more.
Our 2012 Cleft Exchange in quickly approaching. In less than one month, four doctors from the United States will travel to Kaifeng, Henan and perform up to 40 cleft lip and palate surgeries. At the same time they will be working with Chinese doctors and training them in the best methods of performing quality cleft surgeries. It is our hope that through this training, more children in China will have beautiful cleft repairs for years to come.
Our last cleft exchange took place in Fuzhou in the fall of 2010 where thirty children received life-changing surgeries. Most of the orphaned children who were a part of that trip have since been adopted by their forever families. Read more.
Would you fancy a reason to visit Dublin, Ireland? Well, here’s your chance! We invite you to participate in the Flora Women’s Mini-Marathon on June 4 to help support the babies in our Henan Healing Home.
The Flora Women’s Mini-Marathon is the largest event of its kind in the world! 40,000 women run in this 10K race to fundraise for their charity of choice. Places are going fast, so click here for your race number. Read more.
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart you must trust. ~ Bruce Springsteen
We knew it would be difficult for Jack to be matched with the right family as it is a true leap of faith to take on a congenital medical need such as Xeroderma Pigmentosa (XP). Many months have passed, and the right family has not yet come forward for Jack. However, in our hearts we are still hopeful that he will be united with a permanent family soon. Read more.
Christopher is the youngest resident at our Henan Healing Home. He was born in late November with a cleft lip and palate. Christopher developed pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital from his orphanage in Luohe. After a one week stay in the hospital, he came to our healing home in Kaifeng to receive some intensive one-on-one love and care from our loving nannies. Christopher weighed just over six pounds when he arrived just before the Lunar New Year, so we know that he has to gain significant weight and strength in order to be ready for his surgery.
In 2008 we adopted a little girl from China and were active at that time on the chat room for our agency. One of the moms on there always posted older kiddos in need of families and one of the children she posted was Aiden. He was 8 years old with achondroplasia dwarfism. I saw his picture and thought he was adorable! Since we weren’t adopting again, I prayed for him and went on with my life. Read more.
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