January 2016 Featured Child: Hong

Happy New Year and greetings from Little Flower in 2016! Hong, a 2 ½ year old boy, is our featured child for January.  He was abandoned when he was just 2 weeks old.  His orphanage contacted us for help as he had severe pneumonia, was born with 6 fingers and was suspected to have a heart defect.

His condition was very bad when he arrived – he needed heart surgery urgently in order to survive. He was admitted to the hospital and arrangements were made for his surgery right away.

Although the surgery repaired his heart defect, Hong was still very fragile.  He was discharged home but still faced other challenges.

He began having spells where he would stop breathing and would need to be resuscitated. At first it was just occasionally, but these spells became more and more frequent, until he was having them several times each day. We were not sure what was causing this. His prospects did not look good, but we did not give up. Hong is a real fighter and kept pushing through the next months. In April 2014, we took Hong back to the hospital to try and get some answers. However, the doctors were puzzled by his symptoms and were unable to give a diagnosis. Tests to visualize his respiratory tract also failed– no one had the skills or equipment to find out what was wrong.

In June 2014, Hong went to Shanghai accompanied by one of our medical staff, Lily. The doctors there were finally able to tell us that he had growths on his larynx and also bilateral paralysis of his vocal cords.  They were able to remove the growths and do a tracheostomy to keep his airway open.  We were so relieved to finally have a diagnosis and solution to his problems!

Since then, Hong has continued to grow and develop. He is an amazing boy who understands a lot, although he does not have a voice. Here he takes one of his first steps by himself!

We were told that it was possible Hong would outgrow his need for the trach, or that he might never improve and would need it for the rest of his life.  Just last month, Hong went back to the hospital and doctors were able to successfully remove his tracheostomy tube. After 1 ½ years of having a tracheostomy tube, we are so glad that it was finally removed and he can breathe easily on his own!

Handsome Hong is looking for a family to call home!