As many of you may know, Jasson, the little boy in these pictures, has a kidney disease brought on by Kwashiorkor Malnutrition. His kidneys have been failing for some time. So we have been sending him to a Kidney Specialist in the Dominican Republic.

Jesse Ostrander, who is working with us in Haiti, took Jasson and Yonel, one of our children who needed hand surgery, to the D.R. They just returned a few days ago.

The report is this:

Jasson has a lot of protein in his body; his kidneys are not processing it, and there is blood in his urine. It is time to implement plans for dialysis (which we have been trying to avoid). We will be purchasing the dialysis machine in the Dominican Republic. We are so thankful to one of our partners who is making this possible.

This plan will take place within the next 3-4 weeks:

1. Jasson will need surgery in the D.R. to have a catheter placed in his abdomen (the doctors will monitor him for 2-3 days). The doctors discovered a hernia that they will need to take care of at the same time. This process will take 5-7 days.

2. After the catheter is inserted, the “team” will start with dialysis. This part should take 14 days. The doctors will monitor him, and at the same time, two nurses, Jovanie (one of our LAC children) and Phanise, one of our LAC nurses, will be trained at this time. The nurses will be trained in the “daily function of the machine and nightly hook-up.” They must be trained to know what to do if something goes wrong.

3. We will have set up an apartment in the D.R. for this to take place. The dialysis specialists will come to the apartment to train the nurses with Jasson. They think this will take 14 days.

4. In the meantime, we will save a small room at our Orphanage, for Jasson and the two nurses. It must be thoroughly sanitized and only nurses with masks and gloves will be allowed in during that time.

Note: We also are praying and believe that we will find a Haitian donor in the D.R. for Jasson. This would be the best chance at a good life for him. Of course, pray is the main “medicine,” for Jasson, and “with God, all things are possible.”

Thank you for your love, and prayers for Jasson.

Bobby, Sherry, and Jesse

P.S. Special thanks to Jesse for all his hard work and many, many trips to the D.R. to find the surgeons, and for all his hard there. And thanks to Philemond, our driver, who has made many trips for Jasson, back and forth from Haiti to the D.R. and back!

“With a lot of hands, the load is not heavy…” A Haitian Creole Proverb