Sunday, August 11, 2024

A very brave little fighter!

We like to give you an update on little  Q, who was born with a life-threatening gastrointestinal defect and left with a note from his parents saying that they were unable to provide the medical care he needed. 


 We saw him through that surgery and thought it would be smooth sailing after that. And it was, for several years. 


 When he was three years old we were shocked when his doctors found a mass in his abdomen. He had surgery to remove the tumor, which was only partially successful. 



 He was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and began chemotherapy. 


 He appears to have responded well to the many rounds of chemo, but we have been warned that this is an aggressive cancer and highly likely to recur. He follows up regularly to monitor for any recurrence. Each time he gets the “all clear” we breathe a sigh of relief, but also realize he still has a long road ahead. 


As if that were not enough for any small boy, we recently noticed that he was snoring and having difficulty breathing when he sleeps. He returned to Beijing to see the ENT specialists, who scheduled an additional surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids. 


 We are grateful to all who support our work.  Because of you, we had systems in place to provide lifesaving surgery to Q when he was first abandoned. And we were able to recognize, diagnose, and arrange surgery when he encountered his more recent health issues. But most of all, Q has not had to face these challenges alone. He has always had the comforting presence of his nanny, who has accompanied him on his many hospital visits. His caregivers have worked hard to ensure that his all of his medical care and hospitalizations were accompanied by love and nurturing interactions.  Thank you for making this possible!

Thursday, August 1, 2024

The Beauty of a Family

 (Note: this post was written by LeighAnn, who worked at one of our orphan care projects 2019-2020)

When I first met Qi Yu, she was 2 years old. She was living in an orphanage in Northern China. One of the first things I was told about her was that she was matched with a family back in the US!



She was a very playful little girl. She loved running around outside with her friends. 


She was always happy go sit and get her hair done. One of her favorite things was helping the ayis fold laundry. She would fold the items smaller and smaller until they fit in the size of her tiny hand.


We had the joy of celebrating her 3rd birthday with the knowledge that her family day was coming soon! She had the most beautiful, delicious cake topped with cherries. She spent the rest of the day snacking on those cherries.



Fast forward 5 years and Qi Yu, now Antonella, just celebrated her 8th birthday at home with her family in Texas!


This year, Antonella requested a tiramisu cake and hot dogs, one of her favorite foods! She spent the afternoon swimming with her siblings and cousin.


Hot dogs! 

As I watched and played with Antonella, I kept thinking back to that birthday in China. While she had a happy day that day, there is always a bittersweet quality to a birthday in the orphanage. Watching her spend her day within the context of family reminded me of the beauty of adoption! While things can be hard, especially for families with medically complex children, there are so many simple joys.

On this day, there was the joy of Antonella jumping in the pool over and over, giggling each time! She got to pick out her own outfit and do her favorite thing- makeup! She was prayed over by her family. There was cake!

Antonella and LeighAnn

There is so much beauty in family and these special days make it so clear!