Baby K

It's funny how one minute the world is so small, it revolves only around you and those close to you and then you get an email, or a phone call and suddenly the world shifts and you see how much bigger it really is, how small you really are.

On Sunday we received word about a little boy, just 18 months old. He lives in a very remote village in Nicaragua and not too long ago some doctors/missionaries found him almost dead from a severe heart defect. He was rushed to the closest hospital (4-5 hours away) and is under medical care. He needs surgery, and he needs it quickly.

Through an organization called Corner of Love this little baby boy is being offered a chance at a life saving surgery here in Toronto at Sick Kids. Using the Herby foundation he will have a surgery that will quite literally save his life, one that he has no hope for in his home country.

How does this fit in with my family?

I can't count the times I have sat staring at Josh and thanking God we live in Canada, in a city with one of the best Pediatric Heart Centers in the world. It floors me how blessed we are. I hear stories every week about kids in countries who can't even get an ECHO done, parents are just told 'he/she has a heart defect, they need surgery' but no one knows what the defects are, and no one knows what surgery is needed, let alone actually getting an ECHO to get a diagnosis in order to get the needed surgery. Kids are dying all over the world, kids just like my son.

When you go through something like we have. When you see your child being wheeled away into an OR and you know the statistics, know the risks, when you see them swollen, unable to breathe, cut from throat to belly, you can't see beyond that room, that hallway, that child. The world is incredibly small. Then, one day you get an email, and you see that you are one of the very few lucky ones. You realize that being cut from throat to belly is actually the best thing to have happen, because the alternative is to see him lying blue and lifeless and barely able to breathe, unable to gather enough energy to walk let alone run and play. You see that there is so much more to this world than what you have been looking at for so long.

So, back to baby K from Nicaragua. He is coming to Canada, by the grace of God alone he has been found in a tiny, remote village, seen just the right people, who happen to know the right people and somehow managed to get all the right paper work in order. As a family we are honored to say that he and his Mum will be staying with us, pre-op through to his departure back to his home country.

I ask you to please pray for this precious little life as they make the final plans to bring him to Toronto, pray for the doctors who will be doing his surgery, for the many people who are involved in making this happen. Pray for his mother as she makes this huge trip alone, for the family that are waiting for news at home. Please, pray for him, that through his journey up to surgery and beyond he will feel the presence of his maker and know peace and comfort.

We are going to be in need of a crib during their stay with us so if you live close by and have a spare crib please contact me in the comments box or email me @ lauriehaughton@me.com