Keeping Busy!!!!

This little guy is Jony. I had more pics, but the silly internet is not letting me upload pictures. I have tried multiple times and this is the only one that would load. Oh well, I can tell you about him with just one pic!!!!

A missionary friend of mine helps with a medical clinic way out in a village, way out in the middle of no where! Ok, well, it's somewhere, but very far away from the city!!! This little boy was brought to her clinic a couple of weeks ago. She called to see if I'd be willing to evaluate him. I said sure! So, she brought him, his momma, and the village pastor to my house. He is 10 years old and has severe Cerebral Palsy. He has no access to any therapy or therapy related activities, never been to school (if you can't walk, you can't go to most schools in Haiti and especially way out in the villages there are no schools for the handicapped), but his family is very loving. They have taken good care of him. He is very verbal and was fun to talk to and play with. He has some use of his right arm, none of his very deformed left, minimal use of his legs, really poor strength, and AWFUL scoliosis of his spine.

I was able to show his mom some exercises, give him a wrist brace for his left wrist and give him a toy to do some of the exercises with. They agreed to do the exercises and see me once a month to change and advance the exercises. Now, in the states, I'd want to see this kid much more often than once a month, but since it takes such a long time to get to him or him to get to me, we are going to have to do with seeing me once a month and the family taking responsibility for the therapy during the month. We'll see how it goes. Mom did the exercises very well at my house, so I am very hopeful.

As he was leaving, Jaryse gave him one of his little cars to take home too. He enjoyed playing with Jaryse's cars, so Jaryse shared and gave him one to take home and keep. I was very proud of my little man. He was so giving and caring. I pray that that attitude will continue as Jaryse grows and that he'll continue to show the love of the Lord to everyone that he meets.

Please keep young Jony in your prayers and his family. Please pray that they will do the exercises and Jony will slowly increase in his functional activities. This family is rare in Haiti. Most families do not keep their disabled children. They throw them away. I find that they throw them away either right at birth or when the care for them gets too much for the family to handle. My goal, is that with therapy, this little boys function will increase, therefore decreasing the amount of care needed and decreasing the burden on the family. This will allow the family to keep him and his quality of life will be as high as possible. Definitely a higher quality of life with a loving family versus dying in a trash pile or living in an overcrowded orphanage with little to no individual attention. Thank you for joining me in this prayer!