Rainbow Twins are Rallying

The precious "Rainbow Twins" are doing so well at Shanghai Children's! The older of the two now weighs 1.6 kg and the younger is at 1.4 kg! JieJie is now able to eat by a bottle, which is just fantastic news. These little girls weighed less than 1 kg COMBINED when they first arrived. The doctors said they are doing great!

Thanks to everyone who is helping to support their medical care. They are still on our website for donations.

Busy Day at Shanghai Childrens

Below is a letter from Winnie, one of the LWB medical directors in China. Please keep all of the kids having surgery tomorrow in your thoughts and prayers. Little Dou (first photo) had her spinal tumor break open in the orphanage. We are all hoping she will be okay.

The twins are also listed on our website as urgent as their care is costing a great deal every single day and we haven't raised very much for them. "Moving forward on faith" is definitely what we are doing with their medical care. Their names together mean "rainbow" and their orphanage does so many international adoptions that I know if we can get them healed, they will eventually become a family's treasured new daughters. Keep fighting rainbow girls!

Dear All:

We will have a very busy day tomorrow. Dou, Hui and Li will have their surgeries at the same day. It takes a long time to do the CT for Hui because he doesn't sleep at all. Dr. Zhu has to use anaesthesia to get the CT done eventually. He is sleeping so deeply that his caregiver worries when he could wake-up.

I get a call from NICU regarding to the twins, the little one : Hong is having anemia and need to have the blood useage certificate. I go to the blood center to apply for the certificate, guess what? they don't charge me anything because they realize that Hong is an orphan. Also, the NICU nurses ask for Vitamin drops for the twins. From the pictures, you can see how well they are growing now.

Wen is still yellowish now. She is fed by formula and eats very well, but her color is not good as others. Yun is fully fed by formula today. She looks healthier and shows more interests towards surroundings. She may need several days more to wait for the stitches removal and her foster family in Shanghai will come to SCMC to learn the after care, then she will be discharged soon.

After removing the patches on her head, Yuan is leaving for Henan either on Thursday or Friday. She is still a happy girl even though the stitches on her head is noticable!


best regards,

Winnie

Surgery Mission - Day Five

Isn't this a cute picture of Gong Lu and her new friend? It has been another wonderful day of surgeries in Shanghai.

You can tell that some of the kids from the first couple of surgery days are beginning to feel much better by the amount of activity in the children who have already been healed. The babies are eating more and are so busy. Two of these children are Sara Jiao and Yu, who are both about 18 months old. Both of these little girls were from the same orphanage in Henan and are only two months apart. Sara Jiao is at Hope in Beijing, however, and Yu is in foster care in Henan. We tried to see if they would play together. Other than looking at each other closely, they weren’t interested. Both of these little girls have a big group of fans who snap photos of them and follow them around.

A volunteer brought up a toy puppy that moves and barks. Sara Jiao in her cute little pigtails absolutely loved it. She would follow behind it as it moved laughing and chasing it, but the minute it would stop and bark, she would turn and run. Another time, Wendy went into see her. She brought Wendy three bottles of water one at a time and then put them back on the table, one at a time. She also enjoyed running up and down the hall with her little black boots.

Yu, the little girl whose lip was attached to her gum, was also feeling better. It was great to see her feeling better and back to her same little self. She has just enough of an attitude to keep everyone amused. She walks up and down the halls swinging her arms and checking things out. She had fun playing in the closet, going in and out, shutting the door. Later, she was playing in the hall with a ball.

Long, a baby who had surgery yesterday was really fussy today. As his ayi was walking down the hall with him, she had tears in her eyes. She is so worried that he is in too much pain. It is so touching every time we see the ayis fussing over the children in their care. This mission has been filled with so many compassionate and caring aunties.

One of the adorable babies that had surgery today was a beautiful little baby boy from Zhejiang named Jia. He has the sweetest little face and big eyes. If you old him facing out, he loves to take his right foot and twirls it in a circle. It doesn’t matter who holds him, he just loves to do this.

The most touching story of the day was Yuan Yuan. This girl and her ayi continue to touch everyone. Today she was much more awake and I even received a smile from her. Her ayi refuses to leave her side and she took a nap this afternoon by sitting in a chair and resting her head on the bed. I was able to deliver a beautiful afghan that a wonderful supporter sent right before we left. This woman was so touched by Yuan Yuan, that she made this beautiful blanket and stitched her name on it. She loved her special blanket as we tucked her in.

Late this afternoon, the ayis tried on a box of clothes donated by the Shanghai expats. This group has thought of everything, including thanking the ladies who work SO hard each and every day in orphanages to care for the kids. Don White, one of our board members, helped this group of women. How funny it looked to see him helping all of these ladies choose their clothes. One ayi tried on an outfit that consisted of a vest and a jacket. Don complimented her on how great she looked and she just beamed.

The hospital took us all on a river cruise on the Huangpu River right through the heart of Shanghai this evening. We all were so taken by how beautiful this city is. The lights of the Bund and the skyscrapers were quite spectacular. What a wonderful treat this was to all of us.

In total five smiles were made new – three bilaterals and two unilaterals. It is hard to believe there is just one more day of surgeries. The first 8 children from Hope foster home just left for the train station. 10 caretakers, 8 babies, and 10 suitcases have left the building. How fun to see everyone leave so excited and so anxious to get back home. It will be wonderful to see each and everyone one of these babies find their permanent homes in the coming year.

We received an email from one of the expats who has been coming to rock the babies. Her lovely words sum up this week.

I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful this experience is for me. The babies are an amazing blessing and so resilient. I think the Ayis have shown themselves to be wonderful caring women. I see it in their faces as they hold and play with their children. As well as the sadness and fear in their eyes as they await them after surgery. I personally have enjoyed seeing what just a few hrs of love and affection can do to the children. I am happy to put a smile on their face each day. They are so deserving of the opportunity that LWB has given them and I only wish more love for them all.

Wendy Peterson
Medical Trips Coordinator

Karen Maunu
Medical Director

Surgery Mission - Day Two

First Day of Surgeries

Five babies…..five babies have a brand new look. Four babies with clefts and one baby with a nasal hemangioma all have been changed forever.

The day started out with Fu Ran, our Buddha baby. This adorable baby boy, a favorite of many of the volunteers was our first patient. Everyone oohed and aahed as he arrived onto the floor with his newly repaired lip. His ayi was very anxious to see him and was so very pleased to see his change. He was pretty fussy most of the day, understandably, but his dedicated ayi rocked him all day. It wasn’t until one of our facilitators John, started to talk to him, that he immediately stopped crying and smiled in a huge grin. You should have seen his new beautiful smile – what a gift to see!

Sara Jiao, our second patient, was a very tough case. Not only did she have a severe bilateral lip, but she had some scarring. Dr. Buckmiller said that she was challenging, but she was very optimistic. When this child was ready to be moved to the OR, her ayi was very upset. She loved her baby so much she was so worried. She walked with the anesthesiologists all the way to the OR door. When she returned to the floor she looked forlorn, you could just see how very anxious she was. Once she returned from surgery, the ayi was so very happy to see her new look. This dedicated ayi held this child the rest of the day and wouldn’t put her down.

Baby Heng has the most big, beautiful eyes. This child took the longest time in PACU because he was running a temperature. The nurses and doctors gave him extra loving care. Once he was down in the floor ICU he did great and was just as bright eyed as before. Not only did he get his lip repaired, but the doctors also put in ear tubes.

Ran Ran, the last cleft surgery of the day was the quietest and one of the sweetest baby. This little girl had the most petite features and had such a perfect repair. This baby also received a set of ear tubes. Isn't she just so beautiful?

Rose is the child with the nasal hemangioma just like Anna Gong Lu. Anna was fascinated by this baby and loved the fact that her nose would soon be fixed too. Rose was given her name because they knew that she would bloom like a flower after surgery. The last surgery of the day, Rose did wonderfully. Dr. Buckmiller was able to remove a lot of the tumor and was happy to find that much of her nose structure was there. I can’t wait to see what her nose will look like after the bandage is removed. Dr. Buckmiller, touring after surgeries, will be going to her city to remove her stitches in a week.

In between surgeries, Dr. Buckmiller also examined the children with hemangiomas. She was very optimistic when she looked at Shu, the little boy from Guangdong with the large facial hemangioma. She has plans to remove some of the tumor around his upper eye and his lip the next time she comes to China. She was also able to explain to the ayi that his tumor will not grow any more and will continue to get better. This little boy was just so content and gave us the biggest smile. In addition to Shu, Dr. Buckmiller looked at Feng, the little girl from Hunan with the tumor on her tongue. She identified this as a venous malformation and said that this tumor will continue to grow. She also plans to treat this when she returns. The last exam was on a baby girl with a hemangioma on her bottom. This little girl has been a child who has been in our Heartbridge unit and is absolutely gorgeous!

During the surgeries, so much of the day was spent learning and exchanging ideas. In the OR, the medical staff from both the US and China spent much of the day learning from each other. They had fun talking about the names for the instruments and tools, learning both the Chinese and English names. Dr. Chu and Dr. Chen, the surgeons from SCMC watched very closely and took many photos. The SCMC anesthesia staff worked with the US anesthesia team. We learned that SCMC has one of the very best anesthesia departments in all of China. What wonderful teamwork, all in the name of healing these amazing little children.

We hope you enjoy some of the other images taken from today. Thank you for your wonderful notes of encouragement, your prayers, and your support of all the kids.

Karen Maunu

Medical Director

Making the Hospital Stay Fun

I have to say we again had another one of these crazy fun hospital days. As most kids are nowadays the only child in the family, when they are sick, the whole family, including the grandparents are all around comforting and spoiling their child and yet the little ones can be still crying. We know it is impossible for our orphaned children to have the whole family around them, but interestingly, our group has the most laughters and fun time together, everyone's helping each other like one family. What's more interesting, we drew so many other people's attention, like we are the happiest group in the hospital and we brought the happy atmosphere into this supposed-to-be boring place.

We had a fashion show in the hallway today. Guess who's the model - Chloe! Chloe had a really big and painful surgery. After laying in bed for over 10 days, she is finally allowed to stand up. We can't wait to dress her up and she definitely enjoys cute dresses, including this one from today. She enjoyed showing off and "yelling" for attention from audience. So we took her out to the hallway while she still has the urine bag. Her caregiver was carrying it for her but she looked at it and baby talked the caregiver to give her the bag instead. Once she got the bag, she carried it like it's her little purse, happily she was ready to pose for pics! You can imagine all the audience she drew in the hallway and everyone gave her applause. Some other little crying babies even started to laugh in their parents' arms.

Jie is finally feeling better after going through the most painful first few days. Her parents already put him on the pillow while he's laying on his tummy. They took him around for little tour here and there. We also had a good time blowing bubbles, even tho Jie had to lay on his tummy, his eyes followed the bubbles and from time to time he was cracking up and had this loud and clear baby laugh. The parents are so kind that they even tried to help out our orphaned patients, such as feeding or holding, the father even volunteered to go out to buy food for the caregivers who couldn't go out. The whole group is absolutely one great team, helping each other out.

We love to see children being happy during their hospital stay because hospital stay is supposed to be painful and boring, but we can always try to dig out so much fun to make it easy & fun for their stay. I really hope each hospital stay can turn into a happy experience instead in these kids' memories.

tingting

Naughty

Every email that we have received from our facilitators when they have gone to check on a little boy named Feng have said what a naughty boy he is. In China, a child who is very spirited is called naughty and this is often seen as a really good characteristic in a child.

Feng has an arachnoid cyst and Dr. Bao at SCMC put a shunt in to drain the fluid from the cyst. He has had high pressure in his brain and so often had severe headaches. With his surgery done, Feng has been feeling SO much better. So much better in fact, that he has been up to all kinds of tricks.

The last update on him said that he was busy running around the ward. They can't keep him in his bed or keep him still. Last week, he started pulling out his IV. By the end of the week, he was not only pulling out his own IV, but he was also pulling out the IV from the child in the bed next to him!

They have also said that he loves making his surroundings quite messy.

We are sure that his caregiver must be beside herself trying to keep up with him, but we are all smiling on this end over the spirit in this child. What a naughty little boy he is, and how wonderful that he finally feels well enough to get into mischief.

A day at Shanghai Children's

We are so grateful for John Dai, who visited the children having surgery in Shanghai each day for us and who would send wonderful reports on their progress. Today, instead of telling a story in words, we thought we would simply tell the story of a typical day at the hospital in pictures. Enjoy! (although we do have to comment on the stylish Mohawk hairdo that the aunty gave Hao while waiting for surgery!)

Final Photos from Shanghai

Many of the children who received neurosurgery have already left Shanghai Children's to return back to their homes, but a few remain and will be leaving over the next few days. We thought you would enjoy some of these last images from an incredible mission and partnership between UCLA and Shanghai Children's Hospital.

Little Wendy being silly!

All dressed up and leaving with her aunty and director

A very grateful birthmother and her beautiful daughter (the surgery went great!)

In China, red dots are a sign of beauty. Jiao's aunty asked if anyone had lipstick

so she could put a red dot on her baby's forehead.

Little and big! We loved this photo of the tiniest patient and her much chubbier friend!

Loving One Another

As it happens every time we are part of a mission in China, families hear that a team is in their town and they come hoping above hope that their child can be helped as well. We had two such families this time, and both of their stories have touched everyone around them.

The first family came from Anhui province with their son who has microcephaly and epilepsy. This family loves their son so very much, and they want to do everything possible to give him a normal life. The exact words they used were "we were blessed to have our precious son".

When the team at Shanghai Children's agreed to see him, the family was so happy. They waited patiently while tests were run, and spent hours playing with the babies in the rooms and getting to know more about LWB. They shared how they'd never realized there were actually so many kids with special needs until they had their own baby. Sadly, preliminary tests have shown that surgery will not improve the child's condition, but this father and mother want to do everything possible to help him reach his fullest potential. Even though he can't be helped surgically, they want to learn the best way to care for him as they love him so much. Their sweet hearts and their devotion to their son has touched everyone who met them.

The second family who came has a little girl who needed surgery which they could not afford. They actually talked to our team about whether it would be better for her to be an orphan so that she could get the medical care she needs. Tingting talked patiently to them and showed them our kids in the hospital explaining that EVERY child truly wants a mother or father to care for them. When she told the mother that abandonment doesn't always have a happy ending, the mother broke down in sobs, saying that she just wanted to get her daughter helped.

We were able to ask the hospital to cut their fees drastically, and they even agreed to do the operation before the funds are raised, so tomorrow she will be having surgery. One of the volunteers in Shanghai has been raising funds for this family, and we are so thankful we can help them keep their daughter.

Today the mother was once again in tears as she was so very touched by the kindness people showed to her. She wanted to get down on her knees to say thanks today, but Tingting said the only thanks needed is to love her baby. She told Tingting that she has her promise from her heart and her whole family that this child will be cared for. In fact, she said she wants to raise her little girl to be as giving and kind as those around her. She is even changing the baby's name to Xin Meng (Heart & Dream). She wants her baby to grow up with a loving heart like the people who have helped her, and she wants her baby to have big dreams for herself as well. Please be praying for Xin Meng, that she will have a successful surgery and a life filled with dreams.

Sunday in Shanghai

All of the children continue to recover well in Shanghai. Today the older Wendy's aunty had to leave to go buy some supplies, so Tingting sat by her bed talking with her while she was gone. Wendy told Tingting that she is so hopeful that her legs will work better now. Tingting told her how much she would miss her, and jokingly told Wendy she wished she could just stay right there with her. Wendy smiled and said, "no no no....I miss my little brothers and sisters at my orphanage too much so I have to go home". But she promised Tingting that someday she would like to return to Shanghai to show her that her legs are all better!

The volunteers continue to help out in amazing ways and so many new friendships have been formed. This week truly shows yet again that Love Makes No Boundaries Between Countries.