Students Help to Change the World - One Child at a Time

Twelve Ajax High School seniors from Ontario pulled together to change the world...One child at a time.

Written by their teacher Ms. Lacy:

How it all began....two students named Jalal and Cassie were taught by Ms. Jennifer Cassano during the semester I was still on parental leave with my daughter. After learning about attachment theory, what happens around the world with children in orphanages, and, of course, learning about my daughter who became part of my family on July 31, 2006, they decided they wanted to make a difference. When I returned to work in February, Ms. Cassano and I spoke and decided we would help them to make a group. I surveyed my classes to get volunteers and that was how we formed our group that we named after your association.

"Love Without Boundaries"...I think showing them a picture of my little sweetie also helped! We all got together to make a plan, and it was decided that they would sign up each week to sell cupcakes in the front foyer every week. Students rotated from week to week, sharing the tasks of baking and selling. From February to June they did this...making the $725 they donated. We made display boards that listed facts about China and the orphanages, as well as photos I had photocopied out of a book. Also, each week they made an announcement during homeroom to raise awareness about this important cause. They are really such a wonderful group of students!!!! We had a party to celebrate in June, and of course my daughter, Lienna Mei, who attended was a big hit! They really love her and all my stories about her that are so relevant to the course I teach called "Issues in Human Growth and Development."

The students who were part of this group are: Alana, Savannah, Jennifer, Sarah, Ally, Jalal, Cassie, Jodi, Kristin, Julia, Balynn, and Brittany. The teacher advisors were Ms. Jennifer Cassano and me, Ms. Jennifer Lacy.


Thank you, Ajax High Students, for giving of yourselves every week. Any amount given helps, but what you have raised is enough to fund bed 11 at Heartbridge Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit for three full months. You have much to be proud of! Currently in that bed is a sweet little girl who is truly in need of some tender loving care. Three months of the intense medical and physical attention she will receive at Heartbridge will make such a huge difference in her life. I am confident that by taking the time and the energy to think beyond the walls of your own home and your own school that you have not only impacted the life of one precious orphaned child, but what you have learned will forever impact your lives as well. Well done!


Wendy Petersen, R.N.
Heartbridge Coordinator

Turning a Checkup into a Java Event!

It was her turn to go see the doctor… it was inevitable… but how do you turn a potentially traumatic day into a fun-filled event? Starbucks of course!

I know that when you think of a typical toddler you don’t always think of Starbucks. But, when you see these photos you will see that she seemed to be having fun getting a lot of extra attention. It appears she even received her own “age appropriate” snack.







Niu was treated like a very treasured little girl by Heartbridge staff. It reminded me of how any one of us might take our child out for a special treat after going to see the doctor. One of the many benefits of Heartbridge is that the children receive more individualized attention and have a familiar hand to hold during the scary and confusing moments of life.

Heartbridge provides care to children who are either preparing for or recovering from surgery. Some kids were underweight, had chronic infections or needed a higher level of care than could be provided at their orphanage homes. Through a partnership with New Hope Foundation in Beijing, an 18 bed unit for pre- and post-operative children was
created to help children build strength and facilitate healing.







To read more about Heartbridge visit us at:
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/projects_heartbridge.cfm


Wendy Petersen RN
Heartbridge Coordinator

A Story of Hope

Today you get two stories in one...1) a preview of one of my very favorite items from the upcoming "Born in my Heart" art auction, and 2) the story of a very special child.

First the child: our beautiful Jia. Born with an incredibly complex heart defect (actually a number of defects), Jia had a very rocky start in life. We first learned about her in November of 2006, and quickly were able to arrange a first-stage heart surgery to try and save her life. The surgery was a success, but left Jia very weak and fragile. We moved her to our Heartbridge Rehabilitation Unit in Beijing, where we could give her the very best care, and she would have the greatest chance for recovery. Jia's heart was so weak...her doctors and caregivers did everything they could for her, but had little hope that she would survive. And yet by some miracle, Jia pulled through, she is one tough little cookie!

Now on to the painting: The summer after Jia's surgery, we began to look for an artist who might be willing to paint a portrait of one of our "LWB kids" for the next art auction. We found a wonderful portrait artist named Leila Ashton, who very graciously offered to donate her time and talents to create a custom oil painting to benefit our heart kids. With plenty of time to create the painting, now we just needed to find a subject...

And of course that brings us back to Jia! One of our volunteers in China is a very good photographer, and we sent him to a number of orphanages to photograph possible subjects for our painting. When I saw Jia's picture for the first time, I knew we had found our girl! So more photos were taken, and the painting was begun.

Soon after, Jia was diagnosed with irreversible pulmonary hypertension, and she was placed into palliative (end of life) care in October. We wanted her to at least know the love of a good foster family, for whatever time she had left in this world. All the volunteers and supporters, everyone whose life had been touched by this little girl, were heartbroken.

Now comes the amazing part...Jia apparently has an angel on her shoulder. She has a very special angel in her corner anyway, someone who arranged for her to come to the US for once last chance at healing. Any day now she will be traveling, perhaps even during our art auction. How is that for timing?!

The painting was just completed last week, and we wanted to give you a little preview. The title is "Jia: Portrait of Hope." I would like to invite you read the rest of Jia's story, and perhaps bid on this incredible painting in the upcoming auction. Our auction will begin Thursday, April 24th, with items starting to launch at 9:00 am Pacific Time. Bidding will end Tuesday, April 29th.

More importantly, I would like to ask you to join us in sending positive thoughts and prayers to this special little girl, as she and her foster momma make the difficult journey for surgery. Please be a part of Jia's story of hope and healing! Thank you.

Jan Champoux
Art Auction Coordinator

Heartbridge

On the top floor of the Hope Healing Home is a very special unit funded by LWB called Heartbridge. We are so grateful to Dr. Joyce Hill for allowing us this space, and so grateful to the sponsors of this unit who financially support the children who live here. We have 18 precious cribs in this room which house the most vulnerable and sick children that we discover from around China. We thought we would share just a few stories of some of the children living here currently with you.

First there is little Quang. We met this tiny little boy in October of this year. He was admitted to Heartbridge in November as a failure to thrive child with cleft. At 13 months, he was unable to turn over or sit up. Compare that to his report from December, which says the following:

Very ACTIVE and FAST. Uses walker to move about play room. He literally runs in the walker. He can maneuver though doors, so we have to make sure to keep the outer door shut all the time.

Heartbridge has been so wonderful for sweet little Mei, who had been hospitalized for two months by her home orphanage in Yunnan with cleft and heart issues before we moved her to Heartbridge. Read her most recent report:

Has been very healthy this month. She is the princess of her room. All the nannies fuss over her; she is very easy going and mild mannered. She is able to sit on her own unsupported, uses her walker well and gets around playroom well. Talks and babbles quite a lot.

So many of you have offered good wishes and prayers for little MiaoMiao. This little girl has really struggled since her abandonment, never weighing more than 3-4 kgs even at over one year of age due to her inability to keep food down. We had her moved to Heartbridge so that she could have a full medical work up done and where she could receive tender loving care. Her newest diagnosis is “cyclic vomiting syndrome” and we are hopeful that new medications are going to help her turn the corner. We loved her most recent update which described her as “bossy”. She loves to be held and is finally feeling well enough to let her wishes be known. She is much stronger than ever before, and at times she is able to hold her head up and can even hold small items now. The reality is that without our Heartbridge unit, MiaoMiao would have left this earth months ago. She is slowly gaining strength thanks to your wonderful support. We have the highest of hopes for her!

Little Zhou has just arrived and we know that he will begin to thrive in this unit. We were so thankful to have such a wonderful place to send him following his recent heart surgery.

Thanks to everyone who helps support this unit. So many little ones are having their lives changed because of it.

A visit to Heartbridge

Our Heartbridge medical unit is located upstairs at the Hope Healing Home, and is run by the amazing Dr. Joyce Hill. As the number of surgeries we did each month increased, so did the number of children who truly needed intensive post op care. This 9 bed medical unit takes in children who are either too weak for their surgeries or else who need specialized one on one care following their operations.

Recently one of our LWB facilitators made his first visit to Heartbridge. We know you will love seeing some of the photos he took that day. It is hard to believe that these babies were among the most vulnerable of all, as now they are thriving with TLC.

The very best news of all is when one of these beautiful children "graduates", which means they are well enough to move into foster care or back to their home orphanage to prepare for adoption. Recently, one of our sickest heart children, sweet Li, received his "graduation papers". He is now in a loving foster home with his very own mama and baba. When we received his photos, I think everyone at LWB gave a collective shout of "HOORAY!". This couldn't possibly be the tiny little baby who needed a breathing tube for so long. This was a robust and happy toddler who is the picture of health.

Each child at Heartbridge is an absolute miracle to us. Thanks to everyone who helps support these children who face critical medical needs.

Yang is Moving

Miracles happen often around here, but there aren’t too many children as special as Yang. Yang was our very first resident of Heartbridge, arriving last October. She was so tiny and so sick. There were so things wrong with her little heart. On January 24, she received her life-saving heart surgery. You can read more about her story in this blog on that date in the article titled “Sweet Baby Yang”.

You would never believe that this is the same child. Yang is now doing so well and is thriving! She will now be leaving Heartbridge for regular foster care. She no longer needs this intensive medical care she was getting. In fact, she won’t need another heart surgery for 3-4 years and her orphanage is now putting her paperwork together for adoption.

This child is truly a miracle and a fighter. She has overcome so much and is an example to us all on what strength one little baby can have.

Caring at Heartbridge

Baby Yang, Jia, Jiao (heart), Jiao (megacolon), Li, Cong, Hua, and Ying are our first residents at a very special place – the Heartbridge Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit. All of these children have serious medical conditions, many with very serious heart defects. Yang had her successful heart surgery last week and will join Li, Jia, Jiao, Li, Ying, and Cong as they all recover from their heart surgeries.

Children like Jia, who have very serious heart surgeries, take a lot of care as they are recovering. Jia has touched many people’s hearts with her very sweet personality. While at Heartbridge, she went in cardiac arrest, but received immediate treatment and has been getting excellent medical care. She will soon be having a cardiac assessment. Her heart defect is very serious and even thought she has received the first part of a heart surgery, her heart is still unstable. She is at the very best place, watched very closely and will get the help that she needs.

The name Heartbridge was the inspiration of our Heartbridge Coordinator, Shane Thompson. Shane thought the name was fitting as it "bridged" the partnership between LWB and HFH and it provided loving care thus the "Heart" part of the name.

Heartbridge has been in the minds of many of us as we discussed the medical care of the children we help. We knew that there was a need for a place to prepare children for surgeries and to provide a place that would allow them to recover after a serious surgery. As often happens at LWB, when we began to think about how to get those best outcomes, an opportunity quickly presented itself, and the Heartbridge Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit was begun.

Through a partnership with the HFH in Beijing, a 9 bed unit for pre- and postoperative children was opened in October to help kids build strength and foster healing. The loving and professional staff at Heartbridge provides care 24/7 for the kids with a variety of medical issues in a beautiful suite of beds inside HFH. As children prepare for or recover from surgery they are provided with high quality nutrition, medical interventions and therapy, just like a rehabilitation center here in the U.S.


LWB's goal is to help Heartbridge kids have their surgeries with the results they deserve so that they can prepare for healthy lives, hopefully with adoptive families. Since its opening in October, 2006, we've already seen the success that Heartbridge can provide. Beds are now available for sponsorship on our special Heartbridge webpage. Children like Jia can now be given the best care that we can give them.





**** P.S. Baby Yang's heart surgery was a success and she will soon be returning to Heartbridge to continue her recovery. We are so happy that her first heart surgery has gone so well!!

Karen Maunu
Medical Director