16 toes and 14 fingers

Left hand

Right hand

Feet

We have a little boy named Moses who came to us from a tragic family situation. He was born on September 15, 2013 and was a twin, but the sibling twin died in childbirth, along with his mother.  His 15-year-old sister had been caring for him, and the other four children as best she could (after the father ran away), but she couldn’t provide food or milk for them so she sought help from Social Welfare.  We were asked to take Moses and we agreed.

When a new child comes to us the first thing we do is pray over them, bathe them then do a full physical assessment (weight, length, signs of scaring, signs of witchcraft etc).  Upon this boy’s assessment we discovered that his little teeth were black/brown from severe malnutrition and he had eight toes on EACH foot and seven fingers on EACH hand. This is most likely the result of a case of incest and while seeing extra digits isn’t that uncommon here, seeing so many extras is quite unique.

Moses has learned to adapt with his hands, but they are not functioning well and his feet will always be a problem.  After getting medical advice from Doctors in the US, South Korea and Swaziland it was recommended that he receive surgery.

Two weeks ago he was taken to a top Orthopaedic surgeon in South Africa and assessed again.  The recommendation was that he have 2-3 sets of surgery, which will result in the removal of ten (yes TEN) fingers and toes. They will do some reconstruction and repositioning with careful attention to the positioning of the big toes (needed for balance and mobility) and his thumbs (needed for the “pinching” movement to do up a zipper or button a shirt).  

The Doctor also recommend that these surgeries happen sooner than later so that he can recover quickly and have his new hands and feet develop as he continues to grow.  The cost for these multiple surgeries, including transportation/hotels/food in South Africa, is approximately $20,000 USD.  They will do both feet and one hand in the first surgery and leave one hand for him to use.  The second surgery will be the second hand and any other adjustments from the first surgery. They are hopeful that a third surgery will not be needed.

In addition, last week baby Timothy needed surgery to have a hernia fixed.  That was done here in Swaziland at a private hospital by the surgeon whom we know and trust. It is the same Doctor who did Ben’s skin grafting and colostomy reversal and all of Baby River’s clean up surgeries and several colostomies and reversals). Timothy’s total surgery cost was $2,000 USD and it was successful.

So today I am asking for your financial help.  We had to move ahead with Timothy’s hernia surgery for health/medical reasons and now that hospital bill is due.

We would like to book Moses’ surgery for the end of August (the soonest they can do it), but cannot do that until we have the funds to do so.   I am writing today with the hopes that someone feels for these children and can help us do the best we can to help provide a bright future.

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Please remember that every dollar helps.  Thank you for considering my request today.

Many, many thanks.

Live from Swaziland … praying for continued provision for His children, by His children.

Janine