Help Give the Gift of Hearing to You

Meet You! You is a little boy that we happened to see in one of the orphanages we work with back in April. We were in the medical ward of the orphanage to look at another baby but You caught our eye. We asked if we could take a closer look at him and what we saw was startling. His face was gaunt, with hollow sunken cheeks, his lips were cracked and dry. Undoing his shirt revealed skin stretched taught over ribs and a concave abdomen. His pelvic bones protruded. His skeletal hands and feet appeared too big for his stick like limbs. He weighed 3 kg (6.5lbs) and he was 6 months old. We suspected that You had Treacher Collins syndrome. But we asked the staff what his medical problems were. They informed us that he was recently discharged from the local hospital, was difficult to feed and they couldn’t get an NG tube to go down. We knew we had to help him quickly before the malnutrition ended his life.

A couple of weeks later You came to Dew Drops Little Flower. We aren’t sure what changed but little You did not have any trouble eating for us! He very quickly began eating large amounts of formula like he knew how much catching up he needed to do. Initially he was gaining about 200 grams per week!

You has been with us for over two months now. He is 9 months old and he has gained just short of 2 kg (4.4 lbs)! He is still very small for his age. Just under 5 kg (11 lbs) and he has a lot more work to do to grow bigger and stronger. But we are so happy to see the progress he has made so far in such a short time! When he first came to us he could barely lift his arms and legs and he had no strength to lift his head at all when he was laying on his belly. He now holds and plays with toys and can lift his head high and steady when prone, he can roll over and is working on strengthening his core to sit up. We can tell by the way You watches everything around him that he is ready to be mobile so he can explore the world!

You recently came to Beijing to have some general health checks and ENT checks done. We found out that he has a cleft palate that will need surgery when he is bigger and older. He also had a hearing test done. You’s ears are deformed and he doesn’t have an opening into his auditory canal. The hearing test showed that because of this he doesn’t hear very well. They recommended a hearing aide for him. While we know how important proper hearing is to allow him to catch up on his development and so that he can be more engaged in the world around him, these hearing aides are expensive (about $3000). We don’t currently have the funds to purchase one for him. Will you help little You by contributing to help him gain the gift of hearing? Little You and everyone who loves him at Little Flower Projects will be so thankful for your help and look forward to seeing what new progress You will make once he can hear better! Thank you for your support!