“My son has no oxygen in his blood….”

 In 2012, a woman named Lomi carried her son piggyback into our office.

"My son has no oxygen in his blood," she announced, "so I carry him everywhere."

In fact, Abenezer's oxygen was 55%. He could take a step or 2, but then had to rest. His mom carried him to school, carried him home, carried him to the bathroom. She carried him to the bus once a month so they could travel to Addis Ababa - 12 hours away - to get the extra blood his body produced taken off (phlebotomy for secondary polycythemia).

Lomi was dedicating her life to keep her son alive. However, without complex surgery, he had no chance.

Abenezer's echo showed that he had complex disease: "Double outlet right ventricle with left anterior aorta, large ASD and VSD, as well as severe pulmonary stenosis."

We arranged and funded 10 Ethiopians to travel with a JDC escort to AIMS Amrita Hospital in Cochin for evaluation and complex surgery. Lomi again carried him to the airport. His surgery was a success, and he restarted school, now walking on his own.

This past weekend we were in Harar, E Ethiopia, to teach doctors and evaluate spine patients. We called Lomi to ask about Abenezer. "Abenezer graduated from high school," she announced proudly. "He's so tall you won't recognize him. He is taking his national exam but we can meet on Thursday morning at your hotel."

Lomi and Abenezer showed up. Abenezer is now well over 6 feet tall and doing amazingly well. I asked him what he wants to do now. "I want to get a laptop computer and study coding," he replied.

Would anyone like to donate a used laptop to Abenezer?

Thank you!