We were met at the train station by the new director of one of the local orphanages, Director Wang. She is new to the job and told us we were the first foreign team she had met. The orphanage we visited that day has only done seven adoptions since opening five years ago. We really enjoyed meeting their very kind staff, and we told them we hoped we could help increase the number of children who could find families by working together.

After a delicious lunch with Civil Affairs, we went to see the kids. This orphanage has many, many babies with medical needs. Almost every crib had a child who needed help. They had many children with CP as well and really want to learn how to do PT. We told them we could hopefully send some caregivers to Anhui Children’s Hospital for PT training, and they were SO grateful. As soon as we made the offer, they said, “When can we send someone?” I think they just feel overwhelmed at having children they obviously care for but are unable to help.

Some of the children we met included:

An absolutely beautiful eleven-year-old girl in a wheelchair. She is so smart and sweet. They have had her tested locally but cannot find out why she can’t walk. She does have pain when she puts weight on her legs, but everything else is normal. She really needs a tutor as she wants to go to school so badly, but there is no way for her to attend in a wheelchair.

A gorgeous toddler with cleft who loved our balloon animals and was SO active and laughing in her crib. This orphanage has no cleft bottles, and so feeding babies with cleft has been a true struggle. But they WANT to feed the babies, so one of the head aunties felt so terrible when this little girl couldn’t eat that she created her own NG tube. She cut a piece of rubber tubing that she would put down the baby’s throat at each feeding, and she would literally POUR the formula into the tube slowly for her to get calories. She saved this little girl’s life, albeit in a very drastic way.

A little boy who had an unrepaired spinal tumor, but it was low on his back and not broken open. He could walk in his crib holding on to the rails, so we are hopeful he can be chosen for adoption and receive surgery overseas.

This orphanage had several tiny preemies, and so we called one of our team members in Beijing and asked her to immediately send two cases of PreNan formula and a case of cleft bottles. We were all wishing the formula company had overnight delivery!

They had two babies with bilateral clubfeet – and we explained about Ponseti casting. They were very excited to know they could help the kids without making them go through surgery.

One little boy with more severe CP broke our hearts as we were handing our cheerios and crackers to the kids, and he wanted food so badly. However, due to his CP, he can’t swallow correctly and so the aunty said he could not have solid food. He was heartbroken that he couldn’t have the treat, and he just cried and sobbed the whole time we were there. Another little girl that was doing a low moaning cry was a newly abandoned little girl that they estimated was four years old and most likely deaf.  She was so overwhelmed by it all.

I fell in love with a sweet five-month-old who has a huge facial tumor between his eyes. The ayis told me how worried they are about him as it is growing rapidly. Oh this baby was interactive! If you even looked at him he broke into a huge grin, and several times I would go touch his tummy and he would belly laugh. Please pray with me that the tumor can be removed. He is on our website now for urgent sponsorship here.

We were all touched by a teeny tiny little three-year-old that most likely has a genetic syndrome but we weren’t sure what. She had little skinny fingers but the tops of her hands were swollen and puffy. Her feet were flat and puffy as well, and her hands were very creased. There was just something about her that made you want to pick her up and hold her gently.

We then were shown a premature infant boy who also had cleft lip and club foot. He was born last month and left in the cold mountain air – and when the orphanage admitted him he was severely malnourished. If you pinched the skin on his legs, it stayed pinched in a peak as he was so dehydrated. But his eyes tracked Julie wherever she went, and he appeared to be making eye contact with us. He had a very weak cry but it wasn’t inaudible. THANK GOODNESS Julie and Arlene had a cleft bottle with them, and Julie immediately trained the ayi on how to use it and how to squeeze and count. I called our medical director in Guangzhou immediately, and then our Healing Home manager to see if he could go to our home in Fujian. We are all praying that he can survive the journey and get on the path to healing.

After the orphanage visit, they took us to a beautiful local park which surrounded a lake. One of the things that you notice in this region is how very young all the parents are. Many teens are married by 15-16, and so we saw many teenage boys carrying babies on their back in papooses. We created quite a spectacle in the park, as this town rarely has foreigners. Some brave little school boys started following us, daring each other to call out “hello lady!” One little boy followed us all the way to the parking lot, giggling at his bravery, and when I took his photo he totally struck a pose for me. Future politician for sure!!!

All too soon it was time for us to make our journey to the next city, and we said goodbye with many promises that we would begin to help them medically. I would really appreciate your thoughts and prayers for many of the more vulnerable children we met here.

Amy Eldridge, Executive Director

Heart tests and exams showed he needed surgery right away. Billy, as he came to be called, was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, and the surgeons told us that his was a case that could not wait. And so this six pound little boy was moved to Shanghai to prepare for his complex operation, but there was something no one had anticipated. Right as Billy had been moved to Heartbridge, chickenpox broke out among all the babies there. In case you’re not aware, having surgery when you’ve been exposed to this virus can be quite dangerous, but Billy’s heart could not wait as his oxygen levels were in the 50-60% range.  Even though he was extremely weak and underweight, the decision was made that surgery had to be done to save his life.

Immediately following the operation, his oxygen levels went up to almost 95%. We cried tears of joy and all celebrated as the reports came in. But then came bad news – Billy’s chickenpox began while he was in the ICU, and his health began to fail quickly.

Yesterday I was preparing myself to have to share the news with our supporters that Billy had not survived. His tiny body was filling with fluid and the doctors told us he was losing his fight. We cried tears of sorrow and began praying that he wouldn’t be in pain and that somehow he would find the strength to keep battling. Again and again yesterday we were told that was impossible. And then…. late last night….we got the news that he had suddenly opened his eyes. His heart rate had stabilized; his kidneys had begun working again, and the worst of the chickenpox virus seems to have been cleared. The doctors in China used a word that always makes my heart feel joy – they used the word “hopeful”, and they asked if we wanted to keep trying. Of course you know the answer to that question.

We know Billy is not out of the woods. We also know that this is Billy’s own fight, and that if his small body reaches a point where he can’t do it anymore, then we have to let him go as peacefully as possible. But he seems to have found the strength to try one more time, and if he is still fighting then I believe we need to cheer him on as long as he needs us to. Billy has been fighting on his own to cling to this life since the day he was born, and we don’t want him to do this alone. We ask you to stand with us in lifting up this baby and in helping us to raise the funds to give him every chance at surviving. His hospital bills to date are over $14,000 – and he still is in the ICU so those bills will continue to climb. Any amount towards his care would be such a blessing and can be donated here.  Every dollar to me is a message that we are not giving up on his life. I know he is one small baby in a very big world – but he is a baby who deserves so much more in his life than he has experienced so far. Thank you for praying for a second chance for Billy. We are always so grateful for your generosity and kindness to those who are orphaned. Let’s keep sending positive thoughts his way and continue hoping that this little boy shows us all again that the human spirit cannot be defined.

Amy Eldridge
Executive Director

His first stage surgery went beautifully, and the doctors said he will not need another operation until two months later.

Our director in Anhui spoke several times by phone with the mom’s cousin and convinced him to come to the hospital today.  We learned what we expected.  The child’s mom is very poor (she worked as a cook at a temporary construction site), and, after delivering her son, she knew she could not afford the medical care for such a sick child.  That is why she panicked and abandoned the baby boy.

The surgeon has said that Corey can be discharged, and the cousin has promised to find someone to care for Corey until his mom recovers from her hospitalization.   The mom is now awake, and she has told us she wants to take good care of Corey and won’t leave him again.

Since we now know who the family is, we will be checking carefully on Corey to make sure things are going well.  Also, we have pledged to the family that we will cover the next surgeries he will need so that he can be a perfectly healthy little boy.  We know they still have many challenges ahead of them, but we are so grateful that you have helped us prevent another child from being orphaned.

We just can’t thank you enough for stepping forward to help this family during a very difficult time.  I know so many hearts have been touched.  Please keep thinking of Corey’s mom as she recovers.  We are very anxious for the mom and her baby to be reunited.

We learned quickly that the police had identified who the birthmother was, and that they had plans to arrest her and put her in prison for infant abandonment. The hospital told us that a distant cousin had been found, and that someone would be coming to get the baby. But no one arrived, and the little boy remained alone.

We then learned that the birthmom was not married, and that the father was a migrant worker who had long since disappeared. When the mom learned she would be arrested, she fled to another province, where she began hemorrhaging after her recent delivery. She is now in critical condition in a hospital in Jiangxi. Her family is refusing to help her for having a baby out of wedlock.

One of our staff members was able to speak with the relative who was found, and he said that he cannot help the baby right now. He is trying to borrow money for the mom’s hospital bills, and so for now, the little boy doesn’t have anyone who wants to care for him.

I think for those of us who have adopted internationally, we tend to imagine our children’s birthparents as married, impoverished, making the difficult decision in love to give a baby up. That is the storybook version. But we all know that real life is often a bit more complex than that, and that babies are born into every situation possible. With this boy, we are hearing that this is a “bad situation” and “too difficult”. But a lot of life is that way. All we know is that right at this moment there is a tiny baby boy who is completely innocent in all of the drama unfolding. There is a baby boy who was born into the world and then left on the sidewalk with critical medical needs. A baby whose life is still priceless, and who is lying in a hospital bed with no one beside him. This child’s life has now come into our hands, and we don’t want to walk away from him as well.

One of my favorite phrases on earth is “compassion over judgment.” And I believe that this little baby needs people to believe in him who don’t care about the circumstances of his birth. He needs people to simply help him, and so we are going to try. We need 20,000 rmb to pay for the first stage of his surgery (approximately $3000 US). We don’t know at this moment if a family member will step forward to care for him or whether he will end up being placed into the local orphanage if his mother goes to prison. But at THIS moment, he just needs someone to help him. And so we are letting our friends know his story with the hope that someone will step forward to help fund his medical care.

We have given him the English name of Corey, which means “God’s peace.” We think he is going to need that in his life right now. We are hoping that baby Corey can first find healing… and then someone to take him in.

Donations can be made for Corey’s medical bills at this link (please specify “Corey” in the notes section). Thank you so much for keeping him in your thoughts!

The medical team from the US was trying their best to hurry out of Fujian before Typhoon Meigi came ashore. They were delighted to find that several caregivers and babies would be traveling with them to the airport. Maureen Brogan wrote the following:

“We quickly took the babies onto our laps and got in our last snuggles on the hour long ride. We considered smuggling them on the plane- they would have fit quite nicely in our carry-ons! I loved the way Harris watched the view out the windows, and how he would look up into my eyes and grin. Louise was cooing and snuggling with Jenn, and it was very hard to hand the babies back to their caregivers when we finally arrived. We carefully wrapped them in the quilts Dr Ness’s mom made for them and watched as they checked into their flights.

We had a bumpy ride to Hong Kong and a short delay for our flights back to the US. Our thoughts and conversation on the plane were of the children we had fallen in love with during the week. We know they can all look forward to a brighter future, thanks to everyone who made this trip possible.”

Harris looking out the window as he gets ready to travel home

Maureen shared with us that three children in particular are weighing on her heart right now:

Louie, a sweet 6 year old boy, who was so cooperative the entire time he was in the hospital. He had not been considered for adoption as it was thought that his lip repair did not look nice enough. Now that his lip has been revised by Dr. Ness, it is hoped that he will be eligible for adoption soon. Maureen gave him a get well card from her daughter, Aiying, and he quietly asked if he could have a toy to bring back to his best friend at the orphanage. His caregiver told us that he was anxious to share his sticker book with his friend, a girl about 9 years old. We were happy to let him choose a beanie baby to give to her too, and he carefully looked for the exact right gift for her and choose a koala bear. We gave him a stack of sticker books to share with the other children, and he packed them up with a small smile and left clutching his get well card and balloon dog. The family who chooses him will be blessed with a very handsome, gentle, sweet son. We hope he gets his chance for a family soon.

Zachary, who had his palate repaired, still has a severe protrusion of his front teeth and gum. Despite this condition, he is a handsome boy. He needs an orthodontist/oral surgeon to start moving his jaw and upper teeth into the proper position. This procedure is not available in Fuzhou and his best hope for a bright future is adoption. He is a curious, busy toddler who treasures his friends. He was up and exploring with his friends just hours after surgery. However, after his friends had their surgeries the next day, he stuck close to them in their beds until they felt better and were ready to join him in his adventures in the hallways. We hope there is a family who can look beyond his upper jaw and see the handsome little boy who treasures friends and is ready for adventures and a family of his own.

Sweet Zachary

Garret was unable to be helped on this trip. He has very little upper lip tissue left after the failure of his first surgery last winter. He needs several procedures which are not available in China, and his best hope is to be adopted so he can receive the medical care he needs for a full and happy life. He is a jolly, sturdy, playful baby. With his ready grin and sparkling eyes, he charmed everyone he met. He kept us laughing all day, every day as he played with the student nurses and then quickly learned to get upright and start to toddle. To watch and record his first steps was a joy for our team, and it broke our hearts that we could not help him this trip. We are all praying that a wonderful family will come forward who will love him completely and help him receive the surgeries he needs.

Everyone who met Garret fell in love with him!

We hope you enjoy some more of the photos below of the children helped during this trip. Thank you a thousand times over for supporting our work, and especially for supporting the children who need a helping hand.

Getting one last snuggle with Louise before she heads back to her orphanage

Hayden – post op

Mary’s caregiver took her outside to enjoy the sunshine before they headed home

Joel’s nanny had him all bundled before they left the hospital

Maureen saying goodbye to Fenn, who is all smiles again

My nanny thinks I am SO handsome!

Ming Yi’s mom was very emotional as they left

Leslie sleeping peacefully in her nanny’s arms

THANK YOU for making a difference in their lives!

Many of the babies today were feeling so much better after their surgeries earlier in the week. John was awake most of the day today and was very alert and curious. He was so happy that he was allowed to start eating again.

John is doing beautifully

Harris was a very happy camper today and super active! The student nurses took turns strolling him up and down the hallway, and our volunteers discovered he has a wonderful throwing arm (with an orange).

Playing catch with Maureen

Louise looked beautiful after her surgery. She is such a tiny little baby – and so good natured.

Little Louise

Daisy is a quiet and happy baby as well. The team has decided that Daisy is the perfect English name for her, because she is beautiful, quiet and peaceful. She loves to look around and be carried, but will not make a fuss if you are too busy to do so. Her sweet cooing has even charmed the busy doctors, and they love holding and talking to her.

Daisy has everyone wrapped around her finger

Our team learned today that Wade has dimples! He had been very unsure of them up until today, but he has finally accepted that they are just silly and fun to laugh at. : -)

Finally a big smile from Wade!

Fenn is still not happy with most of our team following his palate surgery yesterday, but he gave Dr. Ness a tiny grin this evening.

Fenn should hopefully feel much better tomorrow

Whitney was resting when the team arrived but woke up and quietly watched the doctors and nurses do their morning rounds. She is still not feeling very well either, but her nanny is very attentive and right there to fulfill her every need.

Whitney post op

Hayden returned from surgery and was sleeping in her caregivers arms. Her lip looks wonderful, and we are sure she will be feeling much better tomorrow.

Hayden as Sleeping Beauty

Mr. Smiley, Joel, was not so happy today since he was not allowed to eat before surgery! But once he was put on the table to roll back to the OR, he perked up and looked quite brave. His repair is just beautiful, and he was already trying to smile soon after he returned from the recovery room.

Joel heading back to the OR

We have admitted several more rural children for repairs. Fang is a 13 year old girl who has never had her palate repaired. She has a twin brother and lives on a rural farm with her grandmother and grandfather. Her older sister works to support the family. They are very happy that we have agreed to accept her case. We are waiting for more information and then will put her on our website for funding.

Xuan Yu is a 15 month old baby whose family spent all of their money on her lip repair, and so now they don’t have any funds left to repair her palate. She was brought to the hospital by her mom and dad, grandmother and grandfather. They all live together in the countryside, and waited anxiously for the news on whether she would qualify. Dr. Ness is going to do her surgery tomorrow. If you would like to help this family, you can visit her donation page here.

The family of Meng Yi send their deepest thanks to the people who funded her surgery. We learned that her father was killed in September in an accident at the factory where he worked. Her mother and grandfather work as farmers and really struggle to make ends meet. We are so happy that we could help them in this way.

Sweet Little Meng Yi

We said goodbye today to Payton and Melissa as they are both doing great post-op. The family who funded Payton’s surgery got to meet her today in the hospital. We all think it is so wonderful that their new daughter whom they just adopted was one of our Anhui Cleft Home babies. Some of you might remember little Jo, who was sent to our home from Fujian. She now has a wonderful adoptive family to love her forever. That is the exact happy ending we love hearing for the babies we heal.

Melissa getting one final check up before discharge

How amazing that Jo (on right) who was healed in our Anhui cleft home, was being adopted at the same time that our cleft team was there.  We love these little serendipity moments!

Zachary and Yasmine were both not feeling well today after their palate repairs. Yasmine had a wide bilateral palate, so she was struggling with the pain. Maureen and Jenn started making balloon animals for them, which cheered them up quite a bit. We all hope they both feel better tomorrow.

Poor Yasmine wasn’t feeling well today post-surgery

De Teng continues to do a great job helping with the team and the children. He is in dental school in the Henan province, and so today he learned the story from our team of the infamous tooth fairy. Everyone has enjoyed working with him, and today Jenn gave him a gold coin from the US to wish him luck in the future.

Two more days of surgery left!  Thanks again for all of your good wishes for the kids.  Our team can feel the support all the way to China!

Today (Sunday), our team had a very busy day with their Chinese colleagues at the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian University examining the children before the surgeries begin tomorrow. The nannies did their very best to keep each child happy while they waited for their turn to be seen by the doctors. Our team also gave several lectures today at the hospital. Dr. Ness spoke on bilateral cleft lip surgery, and Maureen Brogan gave a lecture on post op care. She told me today that the team is already having a wonderful time making new friends with the hospital staff. That is one of the wonderful extras that comes from these trips.
After the lectures, it was time to make sure the doctors had everything in place for the surgeries tomorrow. Suture and scalpels were organized, and Dr. Ness and Dr. Martin familiarized themselves with the OR. Meanwhile, our wonderful staff in China were kept busy with logistics and translating, and our medical director Richard Zhang was interviewed by several television crews about this joint US-China medical project.
Now on to the kids!

Some of you might recognize Fenn, from our Anhui cleft home. He was charming everyone today with his little grins. He loved the beanie babies that people donated and immediately made friends with our team. Dr. Ness feels his palate repair should go very well.
It was quickly discovered that Little Payton is one stubborn girl. When Dr. Ness tried to look at her palate, she tightened every single muscle in her jaw and quite simply refused to cooperate. It was only when he was leaving the room that she went up to him and opened her mouth so he could look!
We are so sad to report that Garret will not be having surgery on this trip. His prelabial tissue is gone and his maxilla is too far forward at the moment, so there is nothing to make an upper lip for him. He will need to have a special plastic device to apply pressure on the tissue upwards toward the nose before being able to have surgery. The doctors had a long discussion about his case. We are going to make sure his adoption paperwork is filed as quickly as possible, so hopefully he could be in a permanent home when he is ready for the repair.  Giving a caregiver the news that the child she has brought cannot receive surgery is always so difficult.  Everyone comes to these trips full of hope and excitement that their child will receive a better life through surgery, and when you have to break the news that the child doesn’t qualify….it is always very sad.

Blaise is also an unknown for surgery at this time. He has a very high white blood count and is very frail at the moment. His caregivers said he is very difficult to feed. We are going to continue one on one care over the next few days and make a decision later this week on whether he can have his operation.
We hope you’ll enjoy the following photos of some of the kids who have already arrived for surgery. Thank you all for thinking of the children and the medical team this week. We know so many lives will be changed!

Chloe – palate repair

Jesse – lip repair

Daisy – lip repair

Wade – lip repair

Whitney – lip repair

Harris – lip repair

Louise – lip repair

Dr. Martin examining little Jan – who doesn’t seem too pleased.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers for everyone involved with this important medical exchange. Children are still arriving, and we’ll have more news soon!

“What’s that? Can you tell me again how beautiful I am? I can’t hear it enough!”

I’m pleased to share with you Erin’s most recent update from our Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit:

Name: Erin
Gender: Female
Birthday: November 2008
Special Need: Abdominal Obstruction
Admission Date: 3/20/2009
Admission Weight: 3.5 kg
Current Weight: 7.40 kg

Erin was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for this month’s visit with Cindy, a manager for Heartbridge who pays monthly visits to the children. Once again she finished a large bowl of rice cereal in under five minutes. Cindy reports, “she just swallows it down as fast as possible!” Apparently, Erin was somewhat less than patient as she waited for her nanny to mix up the cereal, and she let everyone in the building know she had waited long enough! Then as her nanny walked in with the bowl, Erin’s screams instantly turned into “a happy tone of satisfaction.” She is a girl who knows how to get what she wants!

Erin has definitely mastered the art of flirting with visitors…

Cindy noticed that Erin was more active and “wiggly” this time in her crib, which is a good sign that she is growing stronger!

Erin has developed the new skills of creeping and rolling from side to side. She is not yet sitting unsupported, but it probably won’t be long! Nurse Mona tells us that Erin had a cough early in the month, but that was her only health concern. Her colostomy is functioning well and she is eating with gusto! I see she put on another pound and a half this month. Now that she has caught up to a good weight for her age, we will begin to see smaller gains than we did the first few months. Erin is up to the 50th percentile for weight now!

We may need to work on table manners, however…

At the end of June, Mona noted, “Erin looks very different now. She is chubbier and stronger, happy and very active. She uses a raking grasp when grabbing an object. She responds to her name and smiles to familiar people. She still enjoys kicking the foot part of the carrier to rock herself.”

Thanks as always for your support of this beautiful little girl. We hope to get her to Shanghai for her colostomy reversal soon. She will be out for a few weeks, and then return to Heartbridge to recover for several months.

Please note that Erin is currently listed on our Medical Sponsorship page, and we will be scheduling her surgery as soon as funds are raised. You can donate towards Erin’s surgery at: http://lovewithoutboundaries.com/medical_sponsor_child_detail.cfm?child_id=900&mc_id=101

Jan Champoux is Heartbridge Coordinator for Love Without Boundaries Foundation. She lives in Nebraska, USA with husband Rob and four children. Jan and Rob have two “homegrown” teenagers, a son adopted from Korea, and a daughter adopted from China.

Gavin arrived at ACHH on December 14, 2008 at just 13 days of age. At first glance, all one might have been able to see was the very large cleft that engulfed the right side of Gavin’s face, extending into his cheek and up to his eyelid.

As you can imagine, it was very difficult to feed Gavin. His nanny would feed him very slowly by spoon, requiring the utmost of patience and attention. Of course, spoon feeding would take so long that Gavin would routinely become upset and cry. Gavin quickly graduated to bottle feedings and was able to get the milk into his tummy quicker, which made him a much happier baby!

When we found out that Dr. Ness thought he could operate on Gavin during LWB’s Cleft Medical Exchange in Shanghai, we were so excited, yet cautious, as we didn’t know if Gavin would be able to gain the required weight to proceed with the surgery. Miraculously, Gavin weighed exactly 10 pounds by the time of surgery. Unfortunately, we weren’t out of the woods yet. Gavin became sick the first day of the Medical Exchange and was unable to receive surgery. He was given medications and watched carefully all week with hopes that he would be well enough by Friday to receive his life changing surgery. So many people around the world were praying and wondering, “Would Gavin get his turn?” Well, amazingly, Gavin’s lungs cleared up, he appeared strong, and was deemed healthy enough to receive his surgery by Dr. Ness and the Team! The surgeons worked for four hours with great skill to repair Gavin’s large facial cleft.

As everyone waited for the first look at Gavin’s face after surgery, one may have been wondering, “How will such a large cleft be closed in one surgery?” Dr. Ness and the Team definitely outdid themselves on Gavin! Gavin has recovered so well and so rapidly that he is ready to graduate from ACHH and will be moving in with a foster family in Hefei very soon.

As you can see below in the “after” photo, Gavin’s transformation is nothing short of amazing! When I look at Gavin’s post surgery photos, I am simply mesmerized and can’t seem to take my eyes off of him!! He is whole…He is complete…He is absolutely perfect! So, even though at first glance, all one could see was the very large cleft engulfing Gavin’s face, now all that can be seen in those eyes is Hope, Healing, and the chance for a very bright future! What a story our Amazing Gavin will have to tell!

Trish Gerber is the Anhui Cleft Healing Home Coordinator. She lives with her husband, Shon, and four children in Kansas. Her youngest child was adopted from Anhui, China in 2008 and received the gift of a cleft lip repair from LWB in 2006. They await their fifth child, a son, from Maoming, China.

Mother (moth-er) — Something or someone that gives rise to or exercises protecting care over something else: origin or source. To look after or care for as a mother does.

This Mother’s Day, Love Without Boundaries would like to extend to women and men alike, a special thank you for your caring support, sponsors and prayers that touch the lives of orphans every day. To them you are the hope and joy, their protectors that rise above to show you care.

Love Without Boundaries continues to help a special young lady named Rena. As a young girl living at Xinzhou SWI, Rena was missing an eye. Through LWB’s caring sponsors, she received a glass eye that made her smile with happiness! More recently she was diagnosed with Thyroid Tumors which are known to become cancerous if left untreated. Rena has been so worried about her diagnosis and treatment, she would often be found sobbing alone. LWB staff knew this was an urgent need and was able to fund her surgery and she is now recovering.

LWB just received a letter from her which expresses such gratitude and this she sends to you:

“In the future days, I will try my best to become a nurse and help those in need and reward society with love. In the end please allow me to say “Thank You” to everyone in LWB and those who cared for me and helped me.”

Rena can soon focus on her future and growing into a beautiful young woman “mothering“ those who are in need.

Mary Hecky is Medical Program Administrative Coordinator for Love Without Boundaries. She lives in Ohio with her husband Chad, and children Ryan, Marissa, Mariah (China), Mya (Taiwan)