LWB Community Blog

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.
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Diana is a tiny little peanut who was born with “bladder exstrophy,” meaning that her bladder is on the outside of her body instead of inside where it belongs. She was born in November and came to our Heartbridge home in mid-February. Diana will need to have a very long and complicated surgery that is not even available in mainland China. We are so grateful that she will be able to travel to Hong Kong for surgery with the MedArt group that recently helped another Heartbridge baby, little Emily.
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Emily is a beautiful nine-month-old girl from Fujian Province who was born with a rare birth defect called bladder exstrophy. This means that Emily’s abdominal wall didn’t close properly in utero and part of her bladder is exposed and protrudes from the abdominal wall. As you can imagine, it can be difficult to care for a child with this condition which is why we immediately sent her to our Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit in Beijing. At Heartbridge, Emily has received the care she needs to remain healthy while she waits for her chance to travel to Hong Kong where she will receive a highly complex and specialized surgery by the world-renowned surgeons at MedArt. Emily will need to stay in Hong Kong for six weeks and will then return to Heartbridge to continue her recovery under the watchful eye of Dr. Joyce Hill and Dr. Steve Martin at Heartbridge.
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The 7th Annual Love Without Boundaries “Born in My Heart” Art Auction starts on eBay today (April 22) and runs through April 27. We have over 350 INCREDIBLE items to auction this year, with every penny going to fund surgeries and medical treatment for Chinese orphans. This year we have many beautiful original paintings and prints, porcelain sculptures, a gorgeous array of quilts, calligraphy, scrapbooking pages, amazing photography, embroidery, gift baskets, jewelry, clothing, heritage items (including a reproduction of a terra cotta warrior) and so much more. We even have tickets to the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as Yankees baseball tickets!

But let’s shift the focus away from the beautiful stuff. This event is really about children like Emily, who is new to LWB and little Samuel, who is one of our “seasoned veterans.”
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