From the Mayo Clinic website:
"Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs and digestive system.
"Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs and digestive system.
An inherited condition, cystic fibrosis affects the cells that produce mucus, sweat and digestive juices. These secreted fluids are normally thin and slippery. But in cystic fibrosis, a defective gene causes the secretions to become thick and sticky. Instead of acting as a lubricant, the secretions plug up tubes, ducts and passageways, especially in the lungs and pancreas.
... Although cystic fibrosis requires daily care, most people with the condition are able to attend school and work, and have a better quality of life than in previous decades. Recent improvements in screening and treatments mean most people with cystic fibrosis now live into their 20s and 30s, and some are living into their 40s and 50s."
In the last sentence of the above quote, the "recent improvements in screening and treatments" does not mean this is available everywhere in the world.
Here is a quote from the Cystic Fibrosis Worldwide Website:
"The average life expectancy for a CF person in Bulgaria is about 15 years."
We are adopting a 12 year old girl from Bulgaria who has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Within the next few months, she will turn 13.
We are excited to have her become part of our family. We are excited at the prospect of being parents. But as important is the ability to provide this child access to medical treatment that can literally add years to her life.
If you take much time reading on the web, you will see people who are supportive of adoption, those who support only domestic adoption and think people should not adopt internationally, and you will even read those who despise adoption fundraising. Perhaps, you, my dear reader, are one of those people. Perhaps you even now are thinking some of the things I have read ... why are they adopting if they can't afford to do so? They should save up the funds before they start the process? Isn't this just buying a child? No one helped pay for my child when he/she was born. And so the list of questions and comments could go on.
I thought I might address a few of these topics. First of all, if everyone was required to have $32,000 in the bank before giving birth to a child, I think there would be much less children on the planet. Just because adoptive parents are fundraising for adoption expenses (agency fees, lawyer fees, government fees, travel expenses), does not mean that they are buying a child (none of this money goes towards getting better service or convincing parents to "give up" their children, if correctly done through Hague accredited government processes). It also does not mean the adoptive parents cannot afford to raise a child, just as it did not mean that you could not afford to raise a child if you did not have $32,000 in the bank free and available the day your child was born. I cannot speak to the last comment regarding "no one helped pay for my child when he/she was born" because I think that is more a comment about how society has failed to live as a village supporting one another in time of need, than really related to adoption at all.
So I do not apologize to those out there who might come across my blog and despise adoptive parents who are sharing their needs and fundraising. I had considered stopping doing so on my blog, so as not to "bother" people. However, I have found that my heart cannot stop writing because of the sense of urgency that is tied into special needs adoption.
This child does not have time to wait until the money is saved up and every circumstance of life is perfect. God asks us to step out in faith and we have done so.
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
So if you have read this far, and I hope you have, you have heard my heart. I do not ask for help because I decided I needed a child and that all my friends should help "pay for it." It is frustrating to hear when people couch adoption in those terms. I ask for help because there is a child without a family on the other side of the world, hoping she beats the odds for the life expectancy of CF and finds a family.
We need to raise an additional $6,000 for plane tickets and related travel expenses. We hope to travel sometime mid to late July. There are many links here on this blog which you can use to help donate toward this cause. The next time you are ill and schedule an appointment to go to the doctor, or stop at the clinic to get medical care, please think of our girl, who is waiting to get to America, and find treatment she desperately needs. I beg you, I implore you, do not harden your heart to adoption fundraising, whether it is for our girl or others who may cross your paths. Adoption is the heart of God.
"I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18
