I have to be VERY careful about sharing confidential health
and history information about our children so that their privacy and dignity is
maintained. There are so many
things that I want to share in my blogs about individual children’s stories,
but I can’t. I am including several super cute photos of super cute children so as to not identify this child in this blog.
Today I have such a HUGE good news report that I will share
it subversively, without putting a name or face to the story. For those of you who know our children
well, you may be able to put two and two together.
We received a little boy nine months ago who was severely
malnourished, had tuberculosis and full-blown AIDS. He was just 2-years-old and couldn’t crawl or stand and only
made grunting animal noises.
A short HIV/AIDS lesson: there are two important measures to watch carefully when
someone is HIV positive - the CD4 count and the viral load count. The HIGHER the CD4 count is, the
better. The LOWER the viral load
count is, the better. (A viral
load is the term used to describe the amount of HIV in your blood. The more HIV
there is in your blood (and therefore the higher your viral load), then the
faster your CD4 cell count will fall, and the greater your risk of becoming ill
because of HIV. – Source http://www.aidsmap.com/Viral-load/page/1327496/)
I remember when this little guy was finally discharged from
the hospital to come home to us. I
was so happy with his progress (always the optimist) and just knew that he had
turned a corner, and would surely live.
Our wonderful Pediatrician (always the realist) quickly reminded me that
he was FAR from being out of the woods, and also reminded me that his CD4 count
was so low that it hardly registered, and his viral load count was at TEN
MILLION.
In eight short months he has been given love, nutritious
food, anti-retro-virals, TB medication (which he is now finished!), more love,
more medical care, physical/physio therapy, lots of antibiotics for
never-ending ear infections and skin conditions and never-ending prayer with
the expectation of total healing.
He now walks, plays, sings in the choir, dances to music,
prays at meal time with the other children, and even says “mama” :).
On Thursday I was told that this little guy was at the
Baylor Pediatric AIDS clinic for a check up and while we didn’t get a CD4
count, his viral load was 179.
Not 179,000. Not 179 million.
Simply 179 … down from 10 MILLION!!
I love the scripture that says, “Jesus did many other things as well. If
every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would
not have room for the books that would be written.” John 21:25
We are living and seeing those miracles every day at Project
Canaan. We have seen the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk and the very
nearly dead rise up and jump for joy.
Thank you to everyone who reads this blog, shares it, prays
for us and supports us financially.
HE is our provider and I am thankful to everyone who hears His voice and
is called to be a part of His story.
Live from Swaziland … I just can’t contain my excitement
today.
Janine
