LWB Community Blog

When ten-month-old Carolyn cries, she turns blue due to pulmonary hypertension. This heart defect should have been treated when she was between the ages of three to six months, and every day that passes without surgery is a risk and could lead to permanent complications. Soon, Carolyn’s heart could become unrepairable.

Carolyn is being raised by grandparents in rural Henan province. They were dismayed to learn about her very serious heart defect and were of course concerned because they knew that heart surgery was very expensive — certainly beyond their limited means. Read more.

Angie and her parents will celebrate her first birthday in October.  She was born with ventricular septal defect (VSD) – commonly called a “hole in the heart”.

The hole in Angie’s heart is big enough that her heart is working too hard and she is developing pulmonary hypertension. Read more.

In the early morning hours of a late July day, baby Christi was found. Born with some of her organs, including her liver and intestines, protruding through an opening in her abdomen (a condition called gastroschisis), the orphanage called LWB’s China staff immediately. Relying on LWB’s Emergency Medical Fund, Christi was rushed to the hospital where she received urgent surgery in the hope of saving this precious little girl’s life. Read more.

One of our staff members in China recently had the privilege of meeting this sweet young man and his family who we are hoping to help through our Unity Fund.

JunYu is 11 years old and was born with several complex medical issues. He was found as a baby in 2002 by a kind teacher who took him home to raise as her own. She and her husband now have a four year old son and an elderly mother that they care for as well and JunYu. Read more.

Fourteen-year-old Chun Xia lives with his mother in an extremely poor area of China.  When his father passed away two years ago from heart failure, Chun Xia took it quite hard and suffered from headaches, loss of appetite and fatigue. At first, his mother didn’t worry too much. When his complaints became more serious every day, his mother took him to a big hospital in the city of Xian as their area has a serious lack of medical resources.  The hospital discovered that like his father, Chun Xia also suffers from congenital VSD in addition to pulmonary hypertension (PH).  Congential VSD is not considered a particularly serious heart disease, but surgery can be quite risky when combined with PH.  Chun Xia and his mother were quite shocked and upset by this news as they did not have any idea that he suffered from the same heart problems that caused his father’s death.

With hopeful hearts, Chun Xia and his mother traveled to Shanghai in search of medical help. Read more.

Little Kenny is the newest recruit in our Xiangtan foster care program. In April he underwent surgery for a serious heart defect. He had a very large ventricular septal defect (VSD), as well as pulmonary hypertension (PH). The PH had resulted in the VSD causing abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs, making the right side of Kenny’s heart work much harder than normal. Kenny needed surgery as quickly as possible to avoid possible congestive heart failure and was moved to one of the best cardiac hospitals in Shanghai.
Read more.

Kenny is only 5 months old and is struggling with a serious heart defect. This sweet little boy from Hunan has two heart defects, the most serious being a very large ventricular septal defect (VSD), as well as pulmonary hypertension (PH). PH means the VSD is causing abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs and is making the right side of the heart work much harder than normal. PH needs to be treated as quickly as possible to avoid possible congestive heart failure.
Read more.

LWB first saw nine-year old Zane in a photo from an Orphanage Assistance project at his orphanage in Zhejiang province. Our Orphanage Assistance director, Suzanne Damstedt, noticed how blue his lips and fingers were and asked the orphanage if we could do something to help him. When the orphanage told us Zane’s story, we were amazed to learn what a truly remarkable child he is.
Read more.