Facebook Babies Update

In February, it was announced on Facebook that LWB won the Facebook challenge. With winning this award, we won $50,000, enough to help heal 10 heart babies. We thought you might like to see the babies and get an update on how they are all doing. Some are healed, some are in the hospital right now waiting for their turn, others are still waiting until just the right time. Everyone one of these children's lives will be changed forever with the money won through this contest.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this happen!

Ying from Henan is still too tiny for surgery but is scheduled to have her ToF repair done in August. What a peanut! As soon as her heart is repaired, she will then have cleft lip surgery as well.

Yun from Zhejiang received surgery for ToF in February and is doing GREAT. This is a photo from the hospital bed.

Xiang from Guangdong was SO sick, and his aunties from the orphanage really didn't think he would make it. The Facebook funds came just in time and he had surgery in March. He received surgery for ToF and PA and is doing so well that he is being submitted for adoption. He was very blue before and now is a lovely shade of pink!

Ya received surgery for ToF and has been matched with her forever family now. That is what makes us absolutely the happiest.

Yang from Henan will be having ToF surgery next week. We can't wait to see his blue lips turn to pink!

Yun from Anhui received surgery for VSD and pulmonary hypertension and is doing so great!

Yan from Anhui will have surgery for VSD and PA soon. She needs a very specialized surgery so she needs extra prayers.

Yu from Guangxi received successful surgery for PDA.

Lin from Anhui received surgery for both PA and VSD!

And Xiong from Henan received surgery for VSD, PDA, and pulmonary hypertension. Isn't that a GREAT smile?

Karen Maunu
Medical Director

Let's do it for the CHILDREN

My message is a bit long today but I hope you will read it to the end. We have just 24 hours left in the Giving Challenge contest on Facebook. 24 hours to try and stay in the lead. And we can’t do it without you.

As I type this, I am staring at the photos of 12 babies who are hurting because they were born with heart disease. Their eyes truly haunt me, first because they are orphaned and as a mother it is hard to accept that any child has to be sick without a mom or dad to comfort them….but second because I know that without surgery, the pictures I have of these children might be their last. Do you know how small a baby’s heart is? And how fragile an orphan’s life is when that tiny heart has a defect? These pictures are of children who are blue, children who are tired, children who NEED OUR HELP.

I also have on my desk the photos of children whose hearts we have healed. They stare out at me with pink cheeks and smiles, and in many…with their new adoptive families. THIS is what it is all about. Saving lives, giving a second chance, and allowing a child to find their family and know complete love.

In the next 24 hours we have a chance to give the GIFT OF LIFE to 10 more children in need. The charity with the most unique $10 donors at 12 noon PST on February 1st will win $50,000. Heart surgery in China averages just $5000 per child, so with that prize….ten children can have a second chance at life.

I am not going to ask you today to find 10 more donors, or even 5 more donors to help us. I am asking you to find just ONE person in your life that hasn’t donated and to ask that person to please help you save a life. For just $10. If all of us do this, we could have over a thousand new donors in just one day.

How often do we spend $10 on things that last just a moment?

$10 for two fancy coffees, $10 for a movie and popcorn, $10 for a dinner out. How about for today, for the next 24 hours, we all find $10 for something that will last a LIFETIME. $10 to save a baby’s life and allow a priceless child (who is orphaned and totally innocent) to get a second chance at finding a family to love them.

Find just one friend in the next 24 hours, and encourage them to join our cause and donate. $10 for the life of a child. Of all the money you have spent this week….this might be the most important.

Thank you EVERYONE for keeping LWB in the running for the top prize. We love our supporters and give thanks everyday for the amazing generosity, compassion, and kindness you show to those who live as orphans each and every day. We truly are a family, bound together by the belief that every child born on this earth matters.

Here’s the link! http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/51591 Let’s do it for the kids.

Amy