BlueSky Mission

News for April to October 2008
Xiao Mei goes to Singapore in July for her third surgery for her bladder exstrophy condition. She is adopted to the US in September! That's our 8th adoption !
4 of our older kids are attending Mammolina's Children's Home, a bilingual Montessori kindergarten. We wish to thank the school for kindly sponsoring ALL of them into their program. Luo Fei, our 7 year old boy, is kindly sponsored into Daystar Academy, an International biligual kindergarten and elementary school.
Wan Er, An Dao & Fu Yang have all returned to their orphanages, making way for new kids, Wen Xuan, Ren JIng, Tian Ye, Ya Ning.
Total of 18 children from poor families have been helped by Blue Sky, most of them with heart conditions.
During the Olympics, some of our children and staff were treated to attend some of the events. Xiao Dai and Fu Xia were also taken to the Paralympics by high school student volunteer, Janvier. See the youtube video that Janvier did to help Fu Xia.

JAN - FEB 2008 Visiting Orthopedic Surgeons In January, we brought 6 children for consultations with Dr Roye and Dr Hyman from New York, during their visit to Beijing. Xiao Dai was a chosen candidate for surgery to correct his spinal condition, but unfortunately he came down with a cough and cold, and missed the opportunity. He needs surgery to install a device between his ribs, since he is missing several ribs that will eventually cause his spine to curve. Fu Xia & Tian Long will possibly undergo surgery for their conditions during a medical mission in October with the Drs in Nanchang. Xiao Yu's clubbed foot is correcting well with her special shoes, but the Drs have requested full body xrays for further evaluation. NingNing, a 14yr old girl from a poor family, has severe scoliosis and will also possibly receive treatment in October. ZhiJiang, our 2yr old boy with clubbed feet, will need his special shoes adjusted but is otherwise doing very well from previous castings, and will not need any surgery on his feet ! Child Medical Updates Xiao Dai (pictured in hospital where he had a cough and cold and hence unable to undergo surgery), FuXia (aka JianGong), & Tian Long await possible surgery in October. Starting end February, Tian Long will undergo weekly castings on his knees and hips for the next 6 months. HaiHe had an infection post-surgery on his hyposadia. He has recovered and is soon back to school ! ShengLu, who had surgery on his oversized tongue (Beckwith-Wiedeman syndrome) has healed nicely, and further tests show that he is healthy otherwise. FuYang, who had liver tumours removed, has healed well, and tests show that he does not have further growth of the tumours. Ziping, our downsyndrome boy, most likely has chronic asthma, and was hospitalised for possible pneumonia and a bronchial infection. He has recovered but has to be monitored closely. Yana, had key-hole surgery for her hernia that was a great success. She has recovered, is doing very well and does not need to be in isolation anymore. XiaoMei, has had bacterial infections associated with her bladder exstrophy condition. She is under close watch. Wan'er is awaiting further checks and possible surgery on her eye tumours in March/April. MaDing, born intersex, will undergo futher evaluation by an endocrinologist. AnQi, is recovering well from her cleft lip surgery. Her palate will be repaired in October. XiaoYu's clubbed foot is correcting well with her special shoes (no surgery required). Aside from suffering during anus dilation therapy, she is doing very well. Tian You, Zhijing, Luofei, Zhijiang, ChunYi, - are all fine and peachy ! Sadly,... Baby Mali, that was born with Spina Bifida, and came to Blue Sky in mid-Jan with her orphanage caretakers for treatment in Beijing, passed away unexpectedly. She was 8 months old. We wish to thank Dr Xu, the nurses and Sarah from Beijing United for all their assistance in her emergency care.
3 New Arrivals Arriving end February, 2 children will be heading straight to the hospital for heart surgery, followed by recuperation at Blue Sky. An Ni, born with Tetralogy of Fallot (4 abnormalities in the heart), is an 13 mth old baby girl from a Shanxi orphanage. Her surgery will cost Blue Sky approx. 50000 RMB. Jia Yi is a 6 yr old girl from a poor family in Hebei province that needs surgery for her VSD. Cost will be approx. 25000 RMB. An Dao is a 1.5 month old baby boy with spina bifida. He was recently abandoned and has a small sack on his spine.
NOV to DEC 2007 -- NEW BABIES
In late October, we welcomed 5 NEW babies to our Healing Home unit. They are: Fu Yang (liver tumours removed), Ma Ding (ambiguous genitals) An Qi (bilateral cleft lip and palate), Tian Long (orthopedic abnormalities) & Ya Na (lung abnormality, hernia, cleft lip).
Blossom House welcomed Sheng Lu, 2yrs old, born with an oversized tongue. He has already had surgery to reduce the size, and is recovering well. Surgeries this December
An Qi, 3 month old baby girl, had repair surgery on her bilateral cleft lip on 11 December.
Hai He, 2 yr old boy, will be having surgery in his genital area (undescended testicles, and hypospadia) on 18 Dec. Unfortunately, he had to spend his birthday in hospital and missed our christmas party. Children waiting for surgery in 2008 :
Ya Na, Tian Long, Ma Ding, Fu Xia, Xiao Dai, Wan Er.
HEALING HOME KIDS (this unit houses children with more severe medical conditions) Xiao Mei (1 yr old) born with bladder exstrophy was in Singapore for almost 3 months. She had surgery to further close her bladder, and a pelvic osteotomy. She is back in Beijing and doing very well. Tian You , our miracle baby born with severe bladder extrophy, has returned from the US on Sept 1 st where he had life saving surgery. He has been recovering fantastic and is very active. He is available for adoption and is listed as a special needs child with Children's Hope International. He will need more surgery on his pelvic area soon. See his blog: www.blueskyhealinghome.org/tianyoublog.htm for more history on him. Wan Er (5 mths old)- baby born with eye tumors, and cleft lip. Has had surgery to remove the tumors and to repair her upper lip. Doing well, and plumping up. Xiao Yu (7 mths old)- born with imperforate anus, has 6 fingers and one leg shorter than the other, clubbed feet (she is wearing custom splints to correct this). She's another chubby one, and so smiley, she reminds us of Jide, our first Blue Sky baby (they are also from the same orphanage !). Fu Yang (3 mths old) - baby born with a large liver tumor -he had successful surgery end Sept. The surgeons say that the tumors are not likely to grow again. Sheng Lu (2 yrs old) was born with an oversized tongue, affecting his eating and breathing, He has just arrived and we are taking him to get evaluated at the ENT hospital. NEW BABIES COMING SOON ! WE ARE EXPECTING THE ARRIVAL OF 3 NEW CHILDREN IN NEED OF SPECIAL CARE. THERE ARE A FEW MORE ON OUR WAITING LIST.
BLOSSOM HOUSE KIDS (our unit for children recovering well, waiting for adoption or who have schooling needs whilst waiting for more surgeries or healing) Schooling Kids LuoFei attends a local kindergarten and is reportedly extremely intelligent for his age. Jian Gong starts his second scholarship year at Mammolina's Montessori. Thank you Mammolina ! Amazingly, he has started violin lessons in school that helps his hands gain strength. He loves it and is proud to play a few notes! Xiao Dai & Hai He start school at Family Learning Centre, a Montessori kindergarten. Thank you so much to Principal Karyn Robarts and her team for giving scholarships to our 2 kids to attend their beautiful school. Adoptions Wen Jie - our 5 th Blue Sky child to be adopted into a loving family in June. He now resides in California, USA. ZhiJIng & Lili have been matched with families and will soon be leaving us to join their new families. Hanging Out Kids En Piao , born with severely clubbed feet has gone from castings to splints to now walking unassisted ! He has intensive physical therapy. Huijing - is awaiting evaluation to see if she is a suitable candidate for a cochlear implant to aid her hearing. Our VOLUNTEER medical team if nurses and therapists are working hard to improve her mental condition by devising a tactile stimulation plan. Ziping, our downs syndrome baby boy, is now eating regular foods (no more special diet!). He is doing very well and will move to Blossom House very soon.
Outreach trips: visit to Shanxi local catholic orphanage in August. Gave them donations of rice, oil, flour, clothing, toys, books, vitamins and basic medicines. They care well for the children, even though they are extremely poor. Our team even visited with a poor family that we helped earlier in the year - their child had a complex heart condition. The boy is doing very well post-surgery. Outreach trip: visit to a state orphanage located in Shandong province. Starting a milk formula program for the newborn baby room (there are 20 children) and looking for sponsors. We saw a few children that we felt we could help by bringing them to Blue Sky. Possibly 2 children that are most in need, will come for nourishment and special care.
Volunteer Cathie Grindler from Canada, shares her knowledge on Cranial Sacral Therapy. She stayed at our humble volunteer housing unit for 3 weeks and held training sessions with our staff and key volunteers. She had an amazing impact on everyone at Blue Sky and we look forward to her return!
July 2007 - Tian You finally went to the US and underwent major surgery at Johns Hopkins Hopsital. It was a success and he is recovering very well. Thank you to everyone who has made a difference in this boy's life. * Xiao Mei is in SIngapore recovering from her 2nd surgery to repair her bladder. She had pelvic bone surgery to help close her pelvis (born too wide apart) and had a fixator installed which she had to wear for over a month. It was just removed and the wait is now for one of her wounds to heal closed. * More updates will come....
June 2007 - Waiting for a surgery date for Tian You.
May 2007 - BLOSSOM HOUSE opens ! After minor renovations, and LOTS of volunteer help, we opened Blossom House this month! Blossom House, which is a 5 mins walk from Healing Home, is kindly sponsored by the Simpson family for yearly rental and set up costs. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for providing this new home for our kids. We have been lucky with many donations of furniture and other items. The children LOVE their new home, and settling in didn't take very long. Photos and further update will be ready over the next month.* We are eagerly waiting to sent Tian You to the US for surgery with an expert in his condition, Bladder Exstrophy. Please read more about TIan You's case through the above link. We have been very lucky to have so many great supporters to help him, and we are able to fund his surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
April 2007 - Blossom House is our new unit under renovations. It will house children that are in long term recovery, and are no longer in need of urgent care. More focus will be on their emotional and educational needs. Our Healing Home unit will become the essential medical unit, housing only children that are in need of extra care, and that are easily susceptible to every day germs. We are also renovating this unit to have an isolation room, and special wound care room. This unit will accomodate up to 8 children if necessary. * This month, 2 cleft babies had their 2nd stage surgeries and returned to their orphanage in Inner Mongolia. En Piao had a splint made for his clubbed feet, and is getting physical therapy almost every day. * We have hired several new ayis who are in training for Blossom House. Our staff total is around 21 staff now ! Staff quarters will need to be expanded in the near future. * This year we went to the Great Wall with all the staff and children (except for Xiao Mei and Ziping who were looked after by our nurse volunteers !). Everyone had a wonderful time.
Mar 2007 - A busy month. Luo Fei, our 5 year old boy born intersexed, has had his third and final surgery, completing his transformation into a boy. He is recovering very well, and is eager to go back to school. * Hai He, our 1 yr old boy with a hole in the heart (VSD), had heart surgery at the local hospital and it was successful! He is recovering well, and has many admirers (just look at his smile! - picture taken at the Great Wall, a month after surgery). * Xiao En, our cleft lip and palate boy who has been with us for 2 years, leaves us to join his new family in Canada ! He is our 3rd adoption, and we will miss him dearly(he's pictured in an orange t-shirt and basecall cap below with all the staff). * Medical Team ! Our foster home is fortunate to have a new team of volunteer nurses from the expatriate community who will oversee the medical and wellbeing needs of the children of Blue SKy. We thank them for volunteer their time and efforts to help the children. * Baby Xiao Mei, our little girl with bladder exstrophy, has returned from 1st stage surgery in Singapore. She will need to return in June for further surgery. Thanks to Dr Kao and his family for fostering Xiao Mei and taking such good care of her. Thanks also to Mirimba and Stefanie for helping bringing her home to Beijing. * Tian You, our severe bladder exstrophy and imperforate anus boy, is undergoing a medical workup in a Shanghai hospital under advisement of Dr Gearhart. We have been referred to Dr Gearhart to help us with Tian You's medical needs, and are exploring our options with fundraising as the costs will be very high for care in the USA.
Feb 2007 - En Piao, our little Inner Mongolian sweetie with clubbed feet, is recovering well after surgery. He has casts on both feet and they have to be changed every week, for 6 weeks. Not fun at all, but he has been a great sport. * FuKang, our 2nd child to ever arrive at Blue Sky in June 2003, has been adopted into an American family. He is our 2nd international adoption ! *
Jan 2007 -What a busy month... we have helped another poor family with their child's complex heart surgery. Ren Ya Bin, 2yrs old in February) was born with Tetralogy of Fallot (4 heart abnormalities). His parents are from a small village in Shanxi, and are a little older. The father is in his 50s, mother late 40s (she is still breastfeeding !). His birth was not planned, and his older sisters are in their early 20s. They came in early Jan to Beijing, and Ya Bin has now had successful heart surgery. Many thanks to our volunteer, Jia Jia and her family who have sponsored Ya Bin's surgery fees. Baby Xiao Mei has also had successful bladder repair surgery in Singapore. She is still in hospital recovering. Thank you to Dr Prabhakaran and his team at the National University Hospital in Singapore. Many thanks also to Dr Kao and his family for fostering her and keeping us updated on her progress. 2 new children have joined Blue Sky. Both children are around 15 to 16 months old, and are sadly the size of 6 month old babies. They weigh under 6kg each and are in need of lots of care and attention. Fu Zi Ping, is a Down Syndrome boy born with a heart condition. He has had surgery to correct this through another foundation. He has difficulty drinking milk (his tongue keeps thrusting out), and was tube fed for a long time. He also has constipation problems. We are working on getting him used to feeding by bottle, with lots of patience and love, and syringe what he cannot finish on his own. Slowly, we hope that he will gain weight and be able to take solid foods. Tian Ci is a little girl that has had a long history of hospital stays in various hospitals in Beijing, and has had a few surgeries to correct her intestinal problems. What always brings me to tears (as it did this time when we were being introduced to her history), was to hear how the local hospitals have told her former caretakers a few times, that she was a hopeless case, and should be taken home to die. They said the same of BaoBao (Giulia), and now she is a precocious 3.5 yr old that never stops saying "why mama". Luckily for Tian Ci, her caretakers didn't give up on her but moved her to another hospital, where better care has given her a little more strength to carry on. We will do our best to help her and hopefully she will improve over time. She has a strict diet now of lactose-free formula, but we hope that she will be able to digest solid foods soon. She too has difficult with bowel movement and digestion. My staff are incredibly patient, and have such big hearts to care for these children. I do admire them. En Piao, our little Inner Mongolian with clubbed feet, will be having surgery this week to correct his feet. He is the sweetest little guy. 2 more babies from his orphanage have arrived this week, straight into hospital for cleft lip repair surgery. Both are around 3 months old. That brings us to 52 kids helped !!! We have 15 children currently onsite at Blue Sky (16 if you include Xiao Mei in Singapore). That's the most we've ever had at any one time !

Blue Sky Healing HomeA Medical Foster Home for Orphans in China