In Septemeber 2008, I traveled 6000 miles to Haiti's Kenscoff mountains. My mission: to care for some of the orphaned and abandoned, the sick, malnourished and premature infants of this beautiful but beleagured Caribbean nation.





Sunday 11 December 2011

The Winning Side

I have three photographs for you that were taken a few minutes ago.

Do you recognise her?

This is Bianka, now sporting a double chin -  a beautiful, healthy baby. Bianka has had no further seizures and she is smiling. I am hoping to see continued progress in her development. Most babies who suffer severe, life-threatening malnutrition have developmental delays as babies, and learning difficulties later in life. Whether Bianka heals with or without 'scars', her life has been salvaged. She is precious to us, and more than that, infinitely precious to her Father in Heaven.

Charilson became seriously ill, late on Sunday night with severe dehydration. He caught a bad cold on Tuesday.  We have increased the strength of his formula, using guidelines that were provided to us by a dietitian. This baby needs to beat the cycle of sickness and malnutrition. The best way to do that is to re-nourish him as quickly as possible. So far, he is filling out nicely. Of all the fragile infants in the NICU just now, Charilson, the one who came in healthiest has been the most difficult to recover to health.

Remember Mario? He was admitted in October, suffering from Kwashiorkor. He was treated for suspected  meningitis the week after he arrived at GLA. Thankfully, the tests that our Paediatrician ran showed that Mario did not have meningitis, but a severe intestinal infection. Once he beat that, the excess fluid quickly left his body, and was almost immediately replaced by fat stores (smile). Very few ladies, Haitian or foreign can resist Mario's charms - he is a terrible flirt!
Three faces: Three victories for GLA, for life, for hope and for love. I love being on the winning side!

3 comments:

Marie said...

So happy that you once again have a victory for all your hard work!!! Keep it up!! You amaze me!!

Anonymous said...

So glad you are on the winning side!!! Keeping the prayers coming
blessings! to you and all the staff at GLA

Asha said...

They are so precious. I just want to cuddle all of them!! Bless you and the GLA team!
-Asha