Meeting Evenson

(Author's note: My apologies that several days have passed since we have posted. We are playing catch up with hundreds of email regarding The Red Thread Promise, some of them going back to early January and the wrap up of our first week of teaching English in Haiti. Of course, as soon as the earthquake hit, information about the conditions in Haiti took priority over the ESL posts and all of the other great work TRTP is doing. While our focus is still on earthquake relief, we wanted to share some final thoughts on our first week teaching English as well as some information about Jacob's Fund. That being said, some of these posts are not in chronological order for which I apologize in advance.)

While Kathy was in Haiti the week prior to the earthquake, she had the opportunity to meet Evenson in person, the adorable little boy that we are raising surgical funds for in Haiti. He is a student at Mountain Top Ministries (MTM) school so she was able to meet him during one of her trips there to teach.

Evenson is a lively 9-year-old boy who lives with his family. At birth, it was noted that he had an unusual appendage growing from his chest (shown in the bottom photo). Until now, limited access to health care resources made it unclear whether surgical removal of the mass could be easily done in his home country or if he would need to travel to the U.S. for treatment.

Through the efforts and partnership of The Red Thread Promise and Mountain Top Ministries, Evenson recently had xrays and CT scans performed that shows there is no significant internal organ involvement. He will be able to have surgery to remove the mass. The only thing that prevents Evenson from receiving his long-awaited medical treatment is the cost of the procedure, estimated at $3,000.

Kathy had the privilege of giving Evenson and his family a basket full of food (oatmeal, cookies, milk, black beans, rice, fish, peanut butter, fortified salt, Itala spaghetti, etc.) from The Red Thread Promise. We wanted him to know that we hadn't forgotten our promise to provide him with this surgery and were working toward that goal. (Little did we know how meaningful that basket would become for his family with the impending earthquake just days away.)

We are excited to share that an energetic team of med students and residents at Tulane and University hospitals in New Orleans have teamed to raise the funds necessary for Evenson's surgery. They are an ambitious group and have also volunteered to raise funds for Christopher's travel and other necessities when he comes to the US for evaluation of his sickle cell anemia. We are blessed to have such a great group dedicated to helping these two boys. This help is even more critical since the earthquake has made medical care in Haiti difficult to say the least.

If you would like to assist The Red Thread Promise in our treatment of Evenson or Christopher, please consider giving a tax-deductible donation via the PayPal link on the right or sending a check to our New Orleans office.

If you are associated with either Tulane or University hospital and would like to help, please contact TRTP board member, Jennifer Avegno at 504.301.5058.