Olympic Bound!

LWB would like to send a HUGE thank you to Shenzhen Airlines for their support of orphaned children in China. This airline has chosen 100 children from orphanages around China to attend the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. We were so excited to learn that five of the kids in our education program in Henan province were chosen for this wonderful opportunity. One of the boys had decided to keep a diary this summer to keep track of what he did. Little did he know when he made that decision that he would have this great adventure to record!


We know all of them are going to have an absolutely amazing time.

Toys

When I was a young child, I wanted to grow up to be Mrs. Santa Claus. This is because I wanted to have access to Santa’s giant sack containing every kind of toy in the world. I grew out of the Mrs. Claus phase by the time I was 6, but I doubt the excitement over seeing new toys ever really leaves a person.







It occurred to me this morning that I am creating new
Santa Clauses with our Foster Care Managers as they are being sent a variety toys and books, for every age group, to carry around with them when they do their monthly visit.


I can just see the curiosity on the children’s faces wondering what will come out of the sack. And the best part is that every child will get a new toy. But I am getting ahead of myself here on how this all started.

In order to more closely monitor developmental progress in the children, we have revised our foster care report format. The Henan programs were the first to try out the new format on our April reports.

The new report has several sections which include movement, vision & hearing, language, cognitive, and social development. The new format has been useful in determining where the children are developmentally. They also give the foster families ideas for age-appropriate activities to promote development. Each age group has different developmental milestones to check their progress against. The reports vary every other month so that the children have 2 months to work on their progress before they are tested again.

As we know from experience, children who have spent their first months in an institution may be somewhat delayed due to the lack of one-on-one attention that families can provide. We are hopeful that these new reports can more closely monitor the development of our foster children and we can intervene when necessary to get the best care for the kids as early as possible.

Much of a child's development centers on play. We have learned that many of the children do not have toys in the home that help promote their development and learning.


So, we are providing the foster care children age-appropriate toys so that they can be encouraged to develop to the best of their ability.

This will be a learning process for all of us to see if this format will help the children. We are hopeful that it will a the first step on the road to a brighter tomorrow.


Note: please disregard the child eating the book that we sent. This program is still in the trial stages.












For more information about our Foster Care Programs please go to:
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/foster.cfm

Help for JD

Occasionally LWB learns of families who are living in such difficult circumstances that they are barely getting by. Recently we were asked if there was any way that we could help a little boy living in the Hunan province. JD was born with cleft lip and had lived 10 years without it being repaired. Many years ago, he was picked up in the street by a warm-hearted man who had special needs himself (he had only one hand and leg.) He took JD home with him and raised him as his son. This man had also taken in an older girl who had been orphaned as well, and together they formed a loving family through adoption.




Sadly, four years ago, this man passed away and so now the two children are living with his elderly mother. So many people have suggested to the grandmother that she should send JD away to another home, but she cannot even think of doing that because she feels he is truly her grandson. A middle school teacher in their town heard about JD and asked LWB if there was any way we could provide free surgery for him so that he could face the world with a new smile. In partnership with the new Operation Smile hospital in Hangzhou, we were able to arrange for this surgery to be done.



Our hearts were so touched by the love of this family that we wanted to learn more about their situation. We learned that this family is under tremendous financial strain. JD’s elder sister, who is just 16, is now the sole financial provider of the family. Grandmother, who is in her eighties, is doing her best to grow rice for the family to live on, but it is not enough. JD is small for his age most likely because they are often only eating 2 meals of rice a day. He is also not doing very well academically due to the long distance he must walk to school each day (over 3 km) and the lack of funds for sufficient nutrition and school supplies.

LWB has committed to helping this family formed and surviving through adoption! A total of $600 per year will supply all that JD and his family need to provide opportunities for academic success. Two sponsors are needed to donate $25 per month to provide:

· School Supplies

· Clothing,
· Nutritional Support
· Tutors

These items and services will strengthen JD’s opportunity to become a strong and independent member of his community when he reaches adulthood. We believe this is truly an opportunity for two sponsors to completely change the life of a child.

JD’s sponsors will receive photos and updates of his health and academic progress quarterly. Sponsors will also be able to write short notes of encouragement to JD and his family.

To learn how to help JD please go to http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/SponsorEducationChild.cfm

Christmas Babies

As those of you who follow our news know, the number of orphanages contacting us now for medical support is beyond our financial ability to help them all. That is just a reality that we are coming to terms with. We have taken in so many children recently with emergency medical needs that we have exhausted our general medical fund, and so I had to make the very painful recommendation to our Board of Directors to close our “ER” until we once again had general funds to use.

The main issue is that we are not able to fundraise for the most critically ill babies, as they have to go immediately to the hospital. As most of you know, we normally put the children on our website who need surgery, and over a few weeks they are usually sponsored and then moved for their operations. But the urgent kids have to be moved without funding in place, which is why the general funds are so essential. With those funds currently exhausted….we had to say “no more urgent kids” for awhile.

Christmas morning, however, I woke up to the news of several newly abandoned babies who were in critical condition. I had told the LWB volunteers that our foundation would be closed for a few days over Christmas, to spend time with our families, but the sad reality is that babies become orphaned every single day, and there is no “holiday schedule” when a child is urgently ill. Of course our offices never really close.

And so on the day that is normally one of great joy, we were notified of two tiny little babies who would not survive without immediate care. One little boy was left in Anhui province, with an enormous tumor on his back which appears to have split open. The other tiny baby was left in Henan, again with a spinal tumor which was broken open and bleeding.

Both babies look so completely tiny and vulnerable in their photos. Both babies would not survive without immediate medical intervention. And it was Christmas Day… and we were being asked to give our answer on whether we could help save their lives.

So what do you say on Christmas Day when your ER is closed and yet two beautiful newborn boys are in need of someone to step forward and say, “yes we want you to have a second chance at life”?

Well….what would YOU say? My guess is that our answers are the same. And my prayer is that both boys will get the miracle they deserve.

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/SponsorMedical.php

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

Realizations

There have been many moments in my life that I have had deep realizations of truth. I remember vividly the moment I realized that there was absolutely no difference between the love I felt for my biological kids and those who were adopted. My realization: that love has nothing to do with genetics but everything to do with your heart. What a wonderful truth to discover.

I remember just as well the moment I stood over a tiny baby’s crib in China and knew he needed heart surgery as quickly as possible and that I was one of the only people who knew that he did. My realization that day: that we can never allow our own fears of taking a risk and failing stop us from action. I was heart pounding scared to ask my friends to help him, but I learned the very real truth that we can accomplish amazing things when we step out in faith.

Not all truths bring joy, however. Some cause real sadness. But I believe all truths bring a clearer understanding of life. I have been struggling the last few months with the truth that my two youngest children lived as orphans. Of course I knew that….since that is the only way they can be in my family today. But recently, this truth has become much clearer to me, as recently I became a grandmother, and I have been able to see every day what a newborn baby wants and needs.

My grandson Asher is a total “tub of love”, and I would be happy holding him up to my cheek all day long if I could, just breathing in his babyness. We live to serve him, and to hear him cry even for a few minutes causes my heart pain. It seems like the second he makes noise, his mom moves into action. When he is hungry, he gets fed. When he is tired, he is rocked to sleep with a silk blankey and a lullaby. We spend hours gently talking to him, making eye contact, and letting him know that he is absolutely, 100% cherished.

In my great love for this child, however, I have had to face the deep realization of what my own two youngest children missed completely. My children never knew what it felt like to be an infant with a devoted mom. Even with the most loving of caregivers, I know my children knew hunger, knew loneliness, and knew bewilderment and frustration that their needs weren’t being met when they cried for help. They were orphans…in a room filled with babies and one lone woman trying to meet their most basic of needs. Of course I knew this somewhere inside of me because of my work, but the full knowledge of it didn't take root until the arrival of my grandson. This realization has caused me great pain, because I love my children so completely. How I wish no child had to be alone. Every baby deserves someone to come when they call.

I look at my grandson, who has never known a moment of pain since his birth, and give such thanks that he is with us. And I look at my own beautiful Chinese children and am amazed and awed by the strength they probably don’t even realize they have. They are such incredible kids, filled with joy and laughter and hope, even after living as orphans. My newfound truth is that children have an unbelievable capacity to trust us, even when adults have let them down in the past, and even when no one had time to come when they called. My latest realization is that all of our children who have faced a portion of their lives as babies without mothers, never being tenderly cradled or rocked to sleep with a song…..all of those children are heroes to me. Their ability to trust again humbles me, and the love they so purely give to us shows me every day the absolute strength of the human spirit.

Let us all keep working to help those who still wait. Truly, they deserve all we have to give.


Amy Eldridge

Executive Director

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.