#Giving Tuesday 2015: Join the Celebration

We have a day for giving thanks.  We have two for getting deals.  Now, we have #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back.  On Tuesday 1 December 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will be coming together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give. 
- from the GivingTuesday website.

Like last year, our most-pressing need is for contributions to our Medical & Surgical Fund.

Almost three-year-old Jesse (formerly known as 'Chris') has been through a lot in his short life.  He was found, abandoned, in a hospital when he was just a week old.  He would have been diagnosed with GI issues and also a heart defect.  He'd had a successful first GI surgery, but we can only assume that his birth-parents lacked the funds that it would take to pay for the further surgeries that their boy was going to need.  He was taken to the local orphanage, and then came into the care of New Day South when he was 6 weeks old.

Jesse's medical needs became too complex for our smaller facility at New Day South to handle, so he came to New Day Beijing at the start of 2013, when he was one year old.  He had two GI surgeries that year.

This year, Jesse has had four surgeries in 10 months, the most recent being an operation to repair an incisional hernia that developed after the urological surgery that he had at the end of October.  He also had urological surgeries in January and April.

The financial burden that was too heavy for his birth-family, and his orphanage, to carry now rests on us.  It's a burden that we are honored to carry; Jesse's life is precious.  But we need your help.



Jesse actually doesn't hold the current record for the most surgeries in the shortest period of time. Connie has been through four surgeries between the start of April and the start of August!  She had surgery to stop the tumor in her kidney from growing, then a second surgery a week later to remove the tumor (along with the kidney).  She then had port-a-cath surgery in preparation for the many rounds of chemotherapy that were to come.  In August she had emergency GI surgery to deal with an intestinal blockage that was almost fatal.  Her chemotherapy treatments are ongoing.

This has been an unusually busy year for the staff at New Day South.  Five of their last seven babies have been emergency calls requiring immediate surgery.  And all so little - arriving at an average 4.5 days old!  With infants that young, we don't know what range of physical conditions will ultimately present or if we will have adequate financial resource to help.  We simply know that if we don't say "yes", these children in all likelihood will not survive.



Abigail, for example, arrived on her 2nd day of life with a large abdominal wall defect (see "Abigail Waits").  She spent the next 11 weeks of her life in NICU while the doctors worked to keep her alive and stabilize her body's systems.  Finally she was sent home simply to wait - her body not yet big enough or strong enough for the necessary surgical repair.  Then just a few weeks ago, a visiting team of surgical specialists from the US examined her case and decided that it was time. The initial surgery was successful, but she remains in the hospital now while her little body heals and tries to adjust to such a major restructuring of her internal organs.



More recently, Marsha arrived - just 4 days old.  Her condition is very similar to that of our little Marshall a few year's back.  Marsha was quickly admitted to the hospital with surgery soon after.  She then spent the next 4 weeks in NICU where she could only have intravenous nutrition while her little insides healed.  She is now in the special care room at New Day South, very frail and thin but able to take nutrition and starting to grow.  Both Abigail's and Marsha's hospital costs remain unfunded.

Up at New Day North, little Ruby had had quite a year. Earlier this year she was struggling - unable to gain weight, hardly keeping anything down, and her smiles were becoming less frequent as her sleep suffered and her little body just wore down. In May, the surgeons in Beijing came up with a plan that we all hoped would give Ruby a chance to grow and thrive. Her recovery after the surgery was slow and hard, but now - six months later, Ruby is doing so much better. Back in May, at 17 months old, she only weighed 11.7lbs. Now, at 23 months old, Ruby has grown into a much-more-healthy 20.5lbs. She's starting to sleep better and her smiles are coming back. Back in May, when Ruby had surgery, we didn't have time to raise all of the funds needed for her operation, but we went ahead with the operation because she really couldn't wait. 



Clara entered the New Day North program in October of 2014. Only about five months old at the time and recently abandoned, Clara was seriously ill. She was diagnosed with Down Syndrome and multiple congenital heart defects. She was also very malnourished, only weighing about 8 ½ lbs, and her heart defects caused her to turn blue when she cried. Clara was back and forth to the hospital, struggling with pneumonia, heart failure... stabilizing, then deteriorating again. Clara finally had heart surgery in February, and after a roller coaster recovery, came home in May. Clara is still a fragile little one, and when she gets sick it gets bad quickly. But she is doing so much better - her life is precious, and her nannies adore her. Clara's heart surgery has also not yet been fully funded.

All of these life-saving surgeries, and the hospital stays, and the medication, and the check-ups...they all cost money.  All three New Day locations have Medical & Surgical Funds that are drawn on to pay the bills for our precious charges' care. These funds need to be healthy so that we can continue to take in children with challenging, complicated and expensive medical diagnoses.

Here is an opportunity for you to "be part of a global celebration of a new tradition of generosity":

Click here to make a donation to the New Day Beijing Medical & Surgical Fund.
Click here to make a donation to the New Day South Medical & Surgical Fund.
Click here to make a donation to the New Day North Medical & Surgical Fund.