Care for Hoa

Hi Everyone,

First of all, thank you to those of you who donated towards helping Hoa, we so appreciate it. We raised about $2600., which is a great start. Of course we welcome any future donations that will continue to help Hoa through getting her surgery.

In November, Joy Degenhardt from Aid for Kids traveled to Hanoi to make arrangements for the second opinion on Hoa's eye surgery. (See new photos of Hoa)  Unfortunately it ended up becoming a longer process than Joy expected. Hoa was brought down to Hanoi by the orphanage, an undertaking in itself since it takes a number of hours of travel fromThai Nguyen to the city. Once there, Joy took Hoa to the eye surgeon who requested that Hoa receive eye drops for 5 days and then brought back to the clinic for further evaluation. Unfortunately, the orphanage would not allow Joy to keep Hoa at the hotel for the 5 days, so she was taken back to the orphanage and brought back to the city after a week. Coincidentally, during this same week, Joy was contacted by a Dr. Phuc, an opthalmologist who runs a program on the prevention of blindness in Vietnam (http://www.hollows.org/Vietnam/Country_Staff/). I had written to Dr. Phuc requesting that he see Hoa for us and perhaps assist us with her surgery. Joy had been trying to contact him as well, and finally was able to speak with him. Dr. Phuc has agreed to assist us with Hoa's surgery!! Within the next few months, Joy will be making arrangements for Dr. Phuc to see Hoa. This is great news, because he is a well known eye surgeon in Vietnam, and will offer and provide the best care for Hoa!!! As things progress, we will keep you updated.

Unfortauntely, Hoa still resides in the orphanage in a room with 4-5 children with downs syndrome. We have had Hoa tested for mental and/or neurologic disorders and the doctors at the International Clinic say she is a normal 3 year old, but delayed because of the unstimulating environment she lives in. We think that perhaps because of the way she looks, the orphanage has placed her with a group of special disorder children. The children in this room sleep in cribs, drink from bottles and get little or no attention from the staff. The worst possible situation for the sweet, happy child that Hoa is.

Again, thank you for your support. Donations of course are still welcomed and needed.

Happy New Year 2010,

Sara and Family