Updates

I can hardly believe it's the end of September. I lost most of the month while ill with mono, which is no picnic. I came to understand that we take for granted the energy we wake up with every day! I am just now getting back to normal after six weeks of lethargy and exhaustion like I've never known. I'm just glad that I've begun to feel like I can put one foot in front of the other again! Thanks to all the Rotary and Elks friends who came to my rescue at the meeting in August. I also appreciate all of the cards, e-mails, and phone calls of good wishes.

Say a prayer for Zama and Sizakele today. (I'll post a picture of them). Baby Zama is having her surgery to release the scar contractures. She is a beautiful, spunky little girl who has gone through a lot. She'll be going back to Swaziland in October and we're all hoping that this surgery is the final one she'll need.

Holly had a few days off last week on vacation and she went to meet her birth father for the first time. They met up in Las Vegas and had a great time. Apparently, some of the similarities were evident, even in Holly's kids. It was an exciting time for her and she's now met both of her birth parents, who were teens when she was placed for adoption. More news on that meeting later once Holly can share her story.

Congratulations to Eric and Julie on their recent match. We're crossing our fingers that everything will go well. Super-parents Katie and Dale...baby #15 is on the way. After four boys, it will be fun to have a girl! Ten little monkeys jumping on the bed...

Update on Zamo

Last week, Zamo had successful grafting on the skin of her leg and foot. She's walking and doing well! She is even going up and down stairs now. Zamo will be returning to her native Swaziland next week, on July 20. She will have to keep her foot covered so that it will heal without exposure to the sun. For someone used to walking around barefoot, I'm sure socks and shoes feel a bit confining, but she's doing very well.

I am hoping to be able to assist Dr. Bush in getting some donations for Anti-venom for the part of Swaziland where Zamo lives. There are many remote villages that have no medical personnel, clinics, or doctors nearby. In the hours it can take to get someone to a hospital, they can easily die. With anti-venom available, there is the ability to buy time and save lives. Since many of these lives are children, I think it's important that we help where we can. Anti-venom costs $100.00 per vial for the type of serum needed for that area. It comes 10 vials to a case. I am hoping that by Christmas, we can send at least one case, and then go on from there.

Our local Rotary has given some gifts to Zamo, although she still needs some shoes and personal items so that she can keep her foot and leg clean while it heals. If anyone wants to help, please send me a note and I'll make sure we can get what is needed before Zamo goes home. Otherwise, we're going to start working on the anti-venom. It is tax-deductible through Loma Linda University Medical Center's non-profit status.

I'm thinking some of our adoptive families will have children's clothing and shoes to donate. We should be able to ship some things for Zamo's village later, so if you have any items you don't need that would benefit a child, please let me know.

Dr. Sean Bush and his wife A'me are the angels who have really assisted Zamo and her mother so that they could get the necessary care needed for her foot. I'm not sure how they moved the mountains to get her here, and I know it was a great undertaking, but through their efforts, they are sending a healthy little girl home. She didn't lose her foot or her life. I am humbled at the efforts made on her behalf and I hope we can all show them that there are lots of angels in the world. If we all do just a little, we can accomplish a whole lot!

My adoptive families and friends rock!

Zamo Needs Us

Some would call me a community activist. I'm involved in several service organizations, one being Rotary. I'm also a frequent flyer in the letters to the editor section of our local newspaper. I like to know what's going on and I definitely have an opinion about it! I keep my eye out for projects that are related to kids in particular. Recently, our Rotary Club hosted a guest speaker, Dr. Sean Bush. Some of you may know him from his documentary series "Venom E.R.". Dr. Bush is a venomologist. He lives here locally and works at Loma Linda University Medical Center. He is one of a rare breed of docs who take care of the victims of snake bites, spider bites, and anything related to venom. In the Pacific Southwest, as well as many other parts of the U.S., we have a fair amount of venomous snakes. Kids are particularly vulnerable, not only because of their size (closer to the ground), but also because many children are fearless and don't realize the danger snakes pose. The venom also affects them more acutely. Dr. Bush's own two year old son was the victim of a rattlesnake bite, so it can happen to anyone.

As an evenomation expert, Dr. Bush travels around the globe studying and helping snake bite victims. As part of a project to film the dangers of snake bites, Dr. Bush traveled with a film crew and team to Swaziland, a tiny country nestled in South Africa. In remote villages in this region, there is very little anti-venom (if any) and hospitals are almost non-existent. Many people, including children, are bitten by venomous snakes there while they are sleeping. Their homes are typically not very secure and are very small shanties with holes throughout, so the snakes come in at night looking for food.

Zamo is a sweet two-year-old girl who was sleeping when she was bitten on the foot by a poisonous snake that had entered her shelter at night. There was very little help for her as her foot swelled up and the venom traveled through her veins. The skin and muscle tissue on her foot began to slough off, leaving her bones and tendons exposed from the lower part of her shin down to her toes. She was unable to walk and her foot began to turn outward. It's hard to imagine the pain she must have endured in the days after the snake bite. She had to endure a great deal.

When Dr. Bush saw her and began treatment, he realized that it wouldn't be possible to provide the the type and scope of help Zamo needed there in Africa. She needed to be in a place with advanced medical equipment, a support team of surgeons, and the appropriate medications to help her in the best way possible. Dr. Bush managed to get through the diplomatic red tape and was able to have her flown from Swaziland (a 24 hour process) to California to Loma Linda University Medical Center, here in the Inland Empire, where treatment has helped her a great deal. Her wounds were cleaned and prepped and she is currently undergoing a series of skin grafts to enable her skin to re-grow. She has had and will need additional physical therapy. Her foot has been saved. Seeing the wound, I marvel at the fact that all of her toes were able to be spared. Zamo is going to be okay, if somewhat scarred. The amount of treatment and the medical costs are no doubt staggering.

In the meantime, through all of the treatment, Zamo and her mother are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Loma Linda. She has spent a great deal of time at Dr. Bush's home as well. He is obviously a very dedicated doctor, and is committed to making a difference in the life of this child, and others. I am hoping to find ways to assist Dr. Bush in the non-medical care of Zamo and the children who will follow in her footsteps.

The current economy isn't very forgiving and many people don't have as much to donate to charitable causes as they would like, myself included. But we can all make a difference if we each do a little and combine it. I'd like to send Zamo and Dr. Bush some help. She and the other children who are and will be facing these types of medical emergencies need everything from the basic necessities to donations for food and shipping, as well as interpreters. This all comes at a cost. If you need tax deductions this year for charitable gifts, or if you just want to help a little girl regain the use of her foot, please take a look at a few of the sites listed below.

http://lomalindahealth.org/medical-center/our-services/emergency/programs-and-divisions/venom-er/our-doctors/index.html

http://www.llu.edu/news/newsstory.html?id=1578


Here are the ways we can help:

Donations may be sent to Loma Linda via;

L.L.U.C.H. Foundation
11175 Mountain View Ave.
Loma Linda, CA 92354

Attention: Mindy 909-558-3154

Please indicate on your check: Snakebite Victims/Dr. Sean Bush, from ALOL Families

Another way to help is to send contributions to:

Ronald McDonald House
11365 Anderson St.
Loma Linda, CA 92354
909-558-8300

Gifts appreciated include cash donations, gift cards for restaurants (check with Ronald McDonald House), gift cards for places like Wal-Mart and Target where clothing can be purchased, and new children's toys and books. If you can just do a small amount on a gift card or want to assist in purchasing a gift card, let me know and I can combine several gifts to purchase a gift card. We can make a difference.

I hope to set up a fund for snake bite kits which include anti-venom and can be sent to some of these remote areas where they have no hospitals and certainly no venomologists available to help. Anyone who has resources for any of these options should contact me. I know many of you would be happy to donate outgrown children's clothing and I may take you up on that if I can find a way to get everything shipped to Swaziland.

Please forward this information to as many friends and relatives as you can so that we can get the word out. Dr. Bush was able to provide a picture of Zamo and if a picture says a thousand words, then you understand that this child and others like her go through an incredible amount of pain and anguish. We can help.

Dr. Bush is doing his part and I'm hoping we can pitch in and help so that kids in forgotten parts of the world will have a chance to recover from snake bites. They deserve the same chances as children born in areas quick to provide medical care. I'm counting on my wonderful adoptive families and readers of my blog and newsletter to come through. As a group, we can change the lives of some children and perhaps even save some.

National Volunteer Week

National Volunteer week is April 19-25. Volunteers are great people. Whenever you want to feel good about life, be a volunteer. I have volunteered in many capacities in my life. Most people don't know this about me, but years ago I was the director of a student volunteer program at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, in Whittier, California (celebrated as the home town of President Nixon -- or not). I was in charge of developing the program and supervising student volunteers. I found that when kids did things for others, they shined. They always felt needed and important -- and they were. I was recommended for that job because I was volunteering at the hospital information desk one night a week. I think I always had volunteer jobs because I want to be in the thick of things and I always want to know what is happening at any given time. Some would call that "nosy", but I like to think of it as being in the know about current events!

I volunteered in other capacities over the years and I have always thought that when I have time (exactly when will that be?), that I would volunteer with the Red Cross. I think that plays right into being where the action is. I am not one of those people who gawks at crashes or wants to rush to the scenes of accidents, but I do feel the need to help make things right when a situation is bad for someone else. It's the rescuer in me. I think all three of my children may have inherited that gene. As a result, we are a haven for strays of any kind, times four. My daughter is trying to talk me into a kitten as we speak. Never mind that we have three cats, two dogs, and a turtle who managed to live in the house for year before I learned about him! How does that happen? My daughter had me convinced that he was ceramic. Okay that does sound dumb, but he's a water turtle and was always shiny. He cooperated by not moving every time I was around. By the time I figured out he was real, I was informed that he was "no problem" and that I didn't even notice him so he must be allowed to stay. Now he resides in a tank in the family room with a brand new "turtle log" and eats more than a small dog. But, I digress...

This is national volunteer week. One of the things I like about the new adminstration's plan is to put into place a "national service", where everyone can give their time to serve their country, not just in the military. Kids, especially, need to volunteer and see how great it can be to help someone, whether in a homeless shelter, a local hospital, a food bank, or a pet shelter. There are so many good things to do. I have found that when someone volunteers, it becomes an addiction. They keep volunteering. I think that's how I ended up as a Chamber of Commerce Director, a campaign worker, a proponent of citihood, and recently found my way to a Rotary Club meeting. The list goes on. What I can say is that I have loved every moment of the time I have spent volunteering and it's a great way to meet quality people who will become your good friends.

I would love to hear all the ways people are volunteering. Let me know what you're doing! :).