LWB Community Blog

They waved goodbye to their Ugandan home and boarded the plane, brave little Celine and her mama, and across the world they flew. Finally, a chance for healing for one broken little heart, and they took it with outstretched arms — nothing guaranteed, but with hope they flew. Celine’s brave mama knew beyond a shadow of a doubt: HOPE is worth the risk, worth the cost, and worth the time. She would do whatever she had to do to bring her baby girl hope, even if that meant leaving all she had known, her community and family back home, to go to Israel and enter a world unknown.

When we first learned of five-year-old Mary Martha earlier this year, she had become so weak from her complex heart defect that she could no longer walk for more than a minute or two at a time. Mary Martha’s life was truly in danger, and her mother was desperate to find help. Surgery in Uganda was not an option for Mary Martha due to the severity of her heart condition (Tetralogy of Fallot), so when she was accepted for surgery in Israel, we all celebrated.