When little Yang first arrived to her home orphanage, she was very weak and sick. The orphanage had her examined and it was quickly discovered that she was suffering from severe heart disease. We sent her down to Hangzhou Children's Hospital right away for surgery, but the surgeons there told us that she was just too sick to survive open heart surgery. We then made the decision to send baby Yang to our Heartbridge Unit at the Hope Foster Home in Beijing. This unit has two purposes. Some of the children here are too weak currently for surgery, and so they are getting intensive nurturing to get them to the weights they need to be for their operations. It also serves as a "step down" unit post surgery for babies who have more serious issues and who need one on one care. When Yang first arrived at Heartbridge, Dr. Hill wrote us and told us that she was very weak indeed. But slowly she began to get stronger. However, Yang had another serious setback in December when she spiked a very high fever and was rushed to the hospital. It was then that we learned that she had a vegatative growth on her heart valves. She was put on a course of the strongest IV antibiotics possible, and for weeks her body tried to clear the infection. Finally Dr. Hill told us that she felt we had to make a decision about Yang's surgery, so last week we sent this beautiful baby to Hangzhou, with the hopes that she is now well enough for her operation. We all know we have a very small window of opportunity for her to be healed, as her heart condition is just so serious.
Tonight, (Thursday morning China time), baby Yang will be taken into surgery. This will be her one chance to be healed and live a normal life. All of us at LWB are thinking of Yang and praying that she does well. Her fighting spirit has been so amazing, and when I saw her in person in December she gripped my finger tightly in her hand as if to say "believe in me".
Thank you all for lifting up Yang and thinking of her tonight. She is a very special little girl and we all want to see her grow up and find a family of her own to love her.
