A history of sweet Henry's adoption, in memorial

Henry's listing photo from 2011.

 

 

 

Sweet Henry

 

 

met his Mommy

 

 

in an orphanage

 

 

last year.

 

 

He was tiny

 

 

even tinier in his daddy's arms

 

 

and his family loved him.

We first posted about Henry on December 17th. He was diagnosed with arthrogryposis and was just too cute. A few months of advocating went by and it got to where someone would say "Henry" and a few people around them would say "awww." Tasha (now Ember) was our other little AMC baby and she had just found her family earlier that month. We all felt Henry was next to find his family. It wasn't until March 4th that we found out someone had commited to him, but we had no clue who they were at that point. It was exciting. Thankfully the Dobrovits didn't make us wait long and shared their journey with us so we could follow. They let us know when they were traveling and let us share their joy (and pictures) in an old post found here. Henry came home on September 9th, 2011.

They even decided to keep his listed Reece's Rainbow name. So "Henry" legally became Henry. When we told Carla she was making it too easy on us. She replied, "Glad I could make it easier for you ;-) we had planned on a totally different name, but as we kept using Henry it just kept feeling more right, it was Pauls' grandfather's name (altho he never met him) and then when we saw him in person we knew it was right!!!"

 

Henry came into an awesome family.

 

And a fun family. :)

 

His family not only provided so much love for this new little baby, but they also continued to adovcate for so many other children.

 

And Carla became an active member of many support groups for new moms adopting special needs kiddos for the first time.

 

 

 

On September 30th Carla blogged that she had just found out Henry did not have arthrogrypsis. In fact instead of the stiff joint contratures indicating AMC, he instead had "wobbly" joints. On October 6th the family had an answer: Larsen's syndrome. Treatment and long-term functionality is the same for Larsen's and AMC, but the joints in Larsen's do the opposite of what they do in AMC.

 

From the Dobrovits blog:

 

Let's go down the signs and symptoms [of Larsen's syndrome]:

* Joint dislocations (especially of the hips, knees and elbows) - yep, all of the above dislocated on both sides
* Hypermobile joints - the child could be a contortonist
* Depressed nasal bridge - that just means he has a cute tiny nose with a tiny upper lip
* Prominent forehead - I teased Paul when we met Henry that Henry had his daddy's hariline ;-)
* Widely spaced eyes - which are absolutely adorable
* "Spatula-like" thumbs - we wondered if these were a Ukranian thing or something else, now we know
* Cleft palate - check. But it is not too bad of a cleft. The surgeon says one procedure with an overnight hospital stay and he will be good!
* Curved spine - yep. big time. 110 degrees. probably his most severe problem and one that will need serious surgery (think metal rods and body casts) in the not-too-distant-future
* Cardiovascular anomalies - no. thank the good Lord. Henry's heart seems to be just fine!

Because of the similarities the family became advocates for both AMC and Larsen's syndrome, educating us all about it which we are very thankful for.

 

But once an AMCer, always an AMCer. ;) We continued to love our Henry. 

 

 

 

Because of the severity of Henry's condition, it became clear that without adoption Henry would have died alone in a crib. A terrifying, horrible thing for a baby. Around the start of the new year Henry had officially overcame two rounds of croup, pneumonia and RSV. There's no doubt that if left in the orphanage with little to no medical care he would not have survived to see 2012. Adoption literally spared and prolonged his life. And now we know it added much more than 14 extra months to Henry's life, it flooding it with love.

 

Henry passed away after complications arrising from a much-needed surgery. It was a major surgery they knew was coming since before they brought Henry home. It was a surgery delayed a couple times, which was frustrating, but now we know those delays would give Henry a bit more time with his family. Even though 14 months in a loving family is not nearly enough, it's better than 13. Or 10.

 

He went from one pair of loving arms to Another. He was given the amazing gift of a family and a loving mom. He is missed. He is grieved. And we are heartbroken. But we don't grieve the orphan, we grieve a beloved son.

 

Through tears and grief Carla texted a member of Bring Hope and asked that people support another family adopting a little one with Larsen's "in Henry's name." That family is in Henry's birth country right now finishing the adoption, but were short on funds. Before we could even blog about it that family was fully funded in less than 24 hours as people poured out their love for Henry without prompting. Another little girl with Larsen's is coming home to be loved because of Henry and his family. Amazing. People go their whole lives without having half the impact on the world that this one little two year old has had.

 

The family has a lot of hospital and funeral costs. If you would like to donate to them to offset those costs you can use their PayPal account which goes directly into their pocket: Dobspc@aol.com. Also another family has set up a ChipIn for them here.

 

Now the family is asking that any extra donations be made to RR's Voice of Hope which helps orphans like Henry, orphans like all the ones with AMC we advocate for and for many, many others to find their families.

 

Henry, you are missed. Right after you were adopted we saw AMCers Gage (Ethan), Moira (Victoria) and Ethan (Cameron) all find families. Adoption paves the way for other children to be adopted, and I'm sure you made a difference. Your life had so much meaning and your family have helped so many others. We'd like to think that in Heaven your back is straight, your joints are strong and you are running and jumping around. No more sickness, no more struggles. Enjoy yourself sweet one.

Kyle

 

Kyle

 

Kyle is also in Africa, but we have not confirmed if it's the same country as Francesca was. Kyle was barely four pounds at birth and has been given a feeding tube through his nose to help him gain weight. He is now three months old and was born on August 18th of this year.

 

To adopt from Kyle's country you need to be:

 

*at least 30 years of age

*have been married at least 5 years

 

They are flexible on the number of children already in the home if you are adopting a child with special needs. Also this is a Hague accredited nation which is only important for the fact that you have to fill out certain paperwork for it.

 

Based on Kyle's picture his lower body looks very similar to both of my children who both now walk. He has clubfeet, knee contractures and possible hip involvement. Kyle's AMC is presenting very typically so we can recommend to any potential families a treatment plan to get him standing and taking steps. They do not mention anything with his upper body, but I would assume contractures affect them, but maybe not. His wrist (the one visable in the picture) looks straight (not bent down) and his elbow is bent. Those are great signs. So if his upper body is affected at least he's in a good position to start with.

 

Right now Kyle's biggest obsticle is not his joints (AMC), but is his rumered lack of stimulation. He's fed and changed, but like my son, he has received very little human interaction for the first part of his life as an orphan, much less than babies in families. Thankfully he has been listed so young (three months old) and his future is bright.

 

Please share his information! Let's find his family!

 

Contact Ruth Cox for more information on Kyle. Her email is yakorphans@gmail.com.

 

 

Goodbye sweetheart

For the first time in Bring Hope history one of our featured children has passed away. November's baby, Francesca, has passed away at eight weeks old in a hospital in Africa. Unfortunately we have not received sharable information about her circumstances and we were asked to remove the previous introductory post with her information on it. Three families had inquired about her (four families since writing this post) and we appologize for the time it took us to process this emotionally and share the news with you all. (Although all inquiring families were informed privately prior to this announcement.) Something this trageic is so hard to understand. We know she touched lives. We know it was easy to get guest bloggers to rally for her. We know she had interest and prayers and love. Even after her post was removed she was still getting interest and prayers and love.

No baby dies from stiff joints (arthrogryposis) but there can be other medical issues involved. Arthrogryposis is an umbrella term that doesn't preclude another condition. If Francesca had been born to parents with access to medical care would she have still passed away? I don't believe she would have. There's a tempation to get angry or to shut our eyes to the plight of special needs orphans around the world. A few of us lost sleep and tears over Francesca's passing. We feel it with you. But please continue to join with us in the work of advocating for those who have no voice. 

Not all is hopeless. So far this year alone we have seen Joel (Roland), Anastasia (Eva), Laurel (Alexandra), Patrick (Joshua), Sandra (in process), Rita (in process), Igor (in process) and Victoria (in process) get moms and dads. Raymond, Aubree and Elizaveta have yet to get families, but have seen their grants raised by over $1,000 each. This Thanksgiving season there is much to be thankful for. There are so many others who still need us...

...like Kyle. (To be continued...)

 

All three got their matching grants!!!

Elizaveta, Aubree and Raymond all made their matching grants!!!

 

Thank you so much!

 

We made it on the very last day, but the donor still had a little something left over for Rita.

 

But they are not ready to reveal the amount just yet.

 

Stay tuned!

Victoria has a family!!!

Remember Victoria?

Well that little sweetheart has a family!

 

Victoria had been waiting on RR for YEARS.

 

But once she was found all the advocates for Victoria started celebrating all over the Internet!

 

Here's a post our friend Julia wrote while crying.

Here's a post our friend Mandy wrote while packing to go adopt Igor.

Here's a post our friend Pamela wrote while jumping up and down.

Here's a post our friend Cheryl wrote while screaming and yelling.

Here's a post from Beth's blog devoted to adovcating for Victoria.

Here's a post from my own blog.

 

You wanna see Victoria's new family?

 

The Sayer family!

 

And guess what?! They are already an AMC family!

 

Jeri emailed Bring Hope during our Rita sharing campaign. Rita had a commitment so they started praying about adopting another AMCer.

 

After writing back and forth about Victoria we got the best email in the world from Jeri. It read: "My husband just got home and saw all the stuff you and Sarah have sent to us.....and we are ready to do this!"

 

!!!

 

Read more about their family here.

 

Mysterious Bonus for Rita

Bring Hope: "So can you tell me more about this 'bonus for Rita' that you are dangling like a carrot over this matching grant?"

Anonymous donor: "What kind of hint do you want?"

BH: "Is it money, well-wishes, flowers... trading cards?!"

AD: "Haha, definitely monetary."

BH: "So....... a million dollars? Two million?!!"

AD: "Three million! Okay no. Actually the money came from a retirement account I had forgotten about that wasn't very large. So there's a definite cap on what I can give. And you know I believe the Bible says to care for orphans, but it also says to care for widows, hurting, lonely, our neighbors and to care about injustice. So there are lots of causes to consider. I came to you first only because you bother me endlessly about helping."

BH: "We'd like to think of it as 'encouraging.'"

AD: "You would."

BH: "So why not tell the bonus number and not leave us all guessing?"

AD: "Because as days go by that number shrinks."

BH: "As you give it away?"

AD: "As we give it away. And if you meet all three matching grants by October 31st, there will definitely be a few dollars as a bonus for Rita. But let's just say if you make your goals faster there will be a bigger bonus for Rita. So I can't say the number because that number changes."

BH: "So if we make Aubree and Elizaveta and Raymond's matching grants today, say, then how big would the bonus be?"

AD: "Big."


We love our anonymous donors and we definitely play by their rules! To donate to Elizaveta click here. To donate to Aubree click here. To donate to Raymond click here.

Rita's new family!

Mayr family 2010

 

 

Mayr kids and the dog 2011

Mayr family 2012 (dad taking picture)

 

 

 

 

Rita has a family! The Mayr family has stepped up to start the process of adopting her! Meet the Mayr family! From Kelly Mayr:

 

Paul and I got married on a mountain top in Colorado in July 1997. We bought a house, got a dog and then were pregnant all in the first three months LOL. Our oldest son Jack was born in May 1998. Grace was born in 2000. She was our entrance into the world of special needs. She was diagnosed with Noonan syndrome at one year old. Today she is 12 and doing great. Next we had our back to back boys 15 months apart.....Daniel and Michael. The last in our troop was Maggie. We realized that we were done having babies, but not done growing our family. We started doing training to become foster parents. It was at this time that we heard about an 18 year old without a family. Since we always have room for one more, Rose joined our family. We started fostering infants and toddlers in 2011. We tripped across Reeces Rainbow a few year ago. As I tell people "once you know about special needs orphans...you can't 'unknow'." So the plight of orphans with special needs has been heavy on our hearts for a long time. Our daughter Grace has had several bake sales to send money to some of the children on Reeces Rainbow with zero in their accounts. We started our home study at the end of the summer. We were just waiting for the right child for our family. We saw sweet Rita and fell in love. She is just a perfect fit for us! We also felt that her situation was more of an emergency. We couldn't bear the thought of her getting transferred to an adult institution.

 

We usually don't get any family info on the day a family commits to one of our AMCers, but thankfully Kelly had contacted us during the sharing challenge. She was excited to know just how many people shared Rita's profile! As the Mayrs goes through the paperwork to set up a family sponsorship page we will be on the lookout for ways to support them.

 

In the meantime while Rita's situation is working itself out, please considering donating your $12 monthly gifts to either Elizaveta, Raymond or Aubree. We have until October 31st to get their matching grants! Also as an added bonus our anonymous donor has said that if all three AMCers get their matching grants, then there may be an extra bonus in it for Rita (once we can donate to her family). So please please please consider even a small amount towards one of these kids! Thanks!