BRANDY~ Update

BRANDY'S FAMILY HAS BEEN FOUND!!!


It has come to my attention the family who had locked BRANDY'S file has decided to return her file to  her agency... Brandy is NOW available for a new family.  To my knowledge, there isn't anything else known other than the family decided NOT to proceed with her adoption...

Let's pray Brandy's forever family is found soon.

Keven/Keegan pt 2

KEVEN/KEEGAN'S FAMILY HAS BEEN FOUND!!!
I am THRILLED this young boy has a CHANCE now!


Ever have a child on your heart who totally captivates it?

This is me with Keven/Keegan.  Yes, same little boy known on the China Special Focus lists as "Keven" and on the Reese's Rainbow list as "Keegan".  These are names given to this little guy to protect his Chinese identity until his forever family comes forward and finds him.  I will continue to advocate for this little boy as "Keven".  It is the name I first used when I was introduced to him and asked to advocate to begin with.  The "Keven" spelling vs  "Kevin" is to make this Keven stand out a little bit and my preference.

I have come to love this child.  His passion for life. His "can-do" spirit.  His spunky personality.   Nothing seems to slow Keven down.  Not the lac of his right fingers; he has learned to adapt and is probably left handed now.  Not to lac of hair on most of his head; he wears a hat or goes without.  Not his many scars; he smiles and laughs as he plays. 
People see the outside of Keven when they first meet him or read his file. That can be intimidating to begin with.  Then when one looks further, they see this little 4 year old boy who survived this horrible accident. (I don't know how Keven was burned. I can guess based on his file and age at the time he was injured, however, I just don't know).  Keven is healthy.  Keven is smart.  Keven is fun to be around.  You can see this in the photos included in his file. 

Keven's future in his country of birth will be limited.  Once he turns 14 years old, he will "age out" of the orphanage system and be on his own.  Having the scarring he does, will most likely reduce him to begging or if he is lucky, being a trash collector, a homeless scavenger... picking up whatever he can find to "cash in" for his livelihood. 

With the extent of Keven's burns, he will need more surgeries as he grows to allow for growth.   Therapies, garments, masks, are all a part of the healing and reconstruction of burn injuries.  Shriner's in Cincinnati and in Texas can help with these surgeries at no cost to Keven's forever family.   Grafted skin is more fragile than original skin.  It needs to be protected with sunscreen and long sleeves, and because Keven's head and face are so involved he must wear a hat or ballcap any time he goes outside to play.   Are these surgeries necessary?  Yes they are.  Keven has extensive burn scars... and as he grows, those same scars can cause contractures thus causing movable joints to "freeze".  While this sounds daunting, it's really not.  My MeiMei had surgeries once a year.  True she had less severe injuries, but her Best Friend had as severe burns as Keven and she had surgeries twice a year.  My point being, I just don't know how often Keven will need more corrective surgeries; only that he will as he grows. 

Here is my mission: Finding Keven his family.  He needs a mom.  He needs someone to love him for all his spunk and can-do attitude.  He needs a dad to teach him how to fish, play baseball and toss a football.  He needs parents.  An added bonus would be brothers and sisters.  Keven can attend burn camps when he is old enough at age 6.  Camp Oo-U-La in Georgia is AWESOME. Totally supported by donations and the kids who qualify attend cost free to the families.  This allows the kids to be KIDS for a whole week. 

Sara Lang with Madison Adoption Associates is also on the same mission.  You can contact her directly at sara@MadisonAdoption.com and ask for Keven's file.  Keven has a "Brighter Futures" grant of $5000 for his adoption fees.  There may be waivers for him with his orphanage. 

Keven has a Reese's Rainbow account under the name "Keegan".  You can access that site here: http://reecesrainbow.org/66866/keegan  He has $135 to help with his fees on Reese's Rainbow as well.  Getting the funding together for his completed adoption is half the battle.  Finding his family.... I have faith God is working on it; as I am; as Sara is and many others.   I leave you with some newer pictures of my Keven.

You may also leave a comment for me here on my blog... I will  put you in touch with the people you need to talk to about becoming Keven's family.   Donations for Keven can be made to Reese's Rainbow under the name Keegan (see link above) and are tax deductible. 

Burn Injury Etiquette

I have been thinking about terms used for people who have had burn injuries.

                                               MeiMei in hard "day" mask

 While there are many ways to describe people with burn injuries for me the word "victim" is NOT one of them.  You see, I was taught that the "victims" died from their injuries.  Whereas being burned and living with scars made me a "survivor". 

VICTIM is a word that  will never describe a child on this blog.  This term is negative in that the kids have FOUGHT hard to LIVE and SURVIVE!   The children often survive without their first moms and dads.  They are usually alone in the hospitals without the comfort of their parents.

BURNT vs BURNED:  I do not like the term BURNT to describe a person or a child who has burn injuries.   To me, it brings to mind a dinner gone wrong when a mom has "burnt the roast" verses "the children were burned in an accident."                                                              .

While each person scars in their own way, the scars are just that... SCARS.  the scars do not affect the health of a child, however, when a young child is burned, surgeries are often needed to help the grafted skin grow.  Skin that has been grafted is actually a transplant from donor site from another area on the injured person.  It is thinner, more fragile and needs more care/caution taken in some circumstances (beach trips, outside exposure, while cooking etc...) than the original skin we are all born with.  

Scarring, also depends on each person.  For myself, my scars are mainly flat in appearance.  I have a few raised scars, but they do not cause me any problems.  My daughter will develop keloid scars, which are thick, hard , bands of scar tissue which are raised.  The children on this blog will all have scars.  Both the physical and the emotional scars of the actual injury as well as the emotional injuries of having been left to be found, can and do heal, given time and the proper care.

Compression garments are form fitted gloves, shirts, sleeves, pants or leggings, socks, and masks for the head and face to help keep the scarring from forming the keloid bands.  The garments help prevent raised scars.  My daughter, MeiMei wore them for 2 years on her face, hands and left arm.  She also wore the tight bicycle shorts for her graft sites to compress those scars as well.  Today, MeiMei is a beautiful young lady with the minimal of raised scars. 


Compression Garments and Masks help kids to heal.



 MeiMei in night mask and custom made
gloves.

Many things can be done through medical intervention and reconstructive surgery... Burn Injuries can be "scary" because scarring can be scary.  The main thing to know about burn injuries is, while scarring is permanent, it can be minimized with the proper care and therapies....

***all pictures copyrighted to Barbara Ingalsbe.  Please do NOT take without permission.***

Gregory Wade

ZEKE ~ UPDATE

Zeke's file has been released back to the SPECIAL FOCUS WAITING List.

This little guy really, REALLY needs his forever family.  He's Smart.  He's healthy.  He would be a "Love~bug"  I just know it...  I have also learned the Texas Shriner's can help with burn injuries.   Y'all go check out ZEKE... I so want him to find his family...

Burn Injuries: How they can happen

I thought I would give you all some insight to burn injuries and how they happen.
For my family we were in a house fire. My son, K, was able to get my mother out safely; then he came around to my window and got me out. Last he was able to put his little sister, MeiMei out on my bed covers. Then he helped me across the street to the neighbor's home away from our burning house while we waited for the firemen to arrive.

My family had access to excellent medical care. No costs were spared. No life-saving surgery was withheld. No limited care based on what my family could pay BEFORE I was cared for or MeiMei was cared for. We both had some very bad burns. We both had an extended stay in the hospital Burn Unit. We are BOTH Survivors. Some burn injuries happen because one cannot get out of a burning building. This is how MeiMei and I were injured.

Some injuries occur because of an appliance malfunctioning. This is how MeiMei's best friend was burned... A lamp fell on her bed with her in it. Friend survived and has many more scars than I or MeiMei. My mom was burned by boiling water when I was little. She had blistered skin on her stomach. Another burn injury my mother had was when I was a young mom to K and her radiator blew the top and scalded her face, again some second degree burns.

Car wrecks, kitchen accidents, house fires, wild fires, electrical fires, lightening strikes, all can have a burn injury attached to them. Most people have had a kitchen burn where one has bumped a hot pan or the stove removing a pan. Those hurt. However; imagine for a moment that tiny burn being on 50% of your body  Or 75% of your body. Imagine if one can, the burn not being red or blistered, but charred. That HURTS.

When the babies/children are burned in China, I really do not know how those happen or why. I can only suppose what happened by the way the children have their scars. Many of the kids I will feature here have facial scars and have lost most it not all their hair. This leads me to believe they were scalded from above. Somehow they were in an unsafe place while their first mom or grandma was cooking or washing laundry.  The adult may have tripped and doused the child. The children's hands being involved and fingers contracted tell me the reflex of guarding the face was the child's automatic reaction to being doused. Arms being burned and contracted in the same way makes me think the child was trying to protect their faces. Legs and feet burns, especially when the children are babies, leads me to think the burns happened because a glass baby bottle was too hot and it then exploded on the baby/child.   The younger the child, the more I do feel these burn injured babies and children are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were very likely a treasured child and healthy, other than the burn injuries.

Seeking medical attention is something I feel, every parents would do. I know my mom did that for me and MeiMei when we were burned. In China, payments comes BEFORE treatments. Many times the first families are peasant families and cannot pay. They have no way to obtain basic medical care for their burn injured child. They, then have to make the choice of, "how do we help our child? how will we help them heal?" and the lists goes on. I feel for the parents having to make the choice to abandon their child so the child can be helped and healed.

Burn injuries can be scary. The bigger the injury the scarier it is to think the person will recover. I did. MeiMei did! It takes time, lots of surgeries and therapy to regain what a burn accident steals from each person. Most of all, once the injuries are healed, scarring remains. Precautions for being out in the sun have to be used. Sun screen, hats, glasses  and long sleeves/pants all help. Compression garments/masks to keep the scar tissues from becoming raised all go along with healing when a person has burn injuries. This is just a part of what I have experienced as well as MeiMei... but the results are worth it. Not everyone sports their very own "patchwork skin" or "lizard skin" as my nephew calls my 'waffle grafts". :) 

I am proud to still be here to help teach others about burn injuries and how those injuries can be helped and healed. 

In conclusion, when out and about seeing a person who is scarred, don't be "afraid" of them.  Smile.  Say, "Hello".  Ask how they are and if curious, ask about their injuries.  Bet that person will tell you what happened. 

BRANDY

Oh My HEART! This is Brandy. She is a spunky six year old born in the Fall of 2007.

Brandy has two special needs (SN) 1) mild scoliosis and 2) what China has described as a "facial blush". To me, this appears to be a burn injury. She has scarring on the bridge of her nose with some contractions on the right side. Her eyes also seem to be affected a little bit, as well. 
Shriner's in Cincinnati can help with any medical care a Burn Injured child may need... whether the child needs surgeries, garments or extended care.

Brandy is active, smart, and loves the help the nannies. Brandy is said to get along well with the other children in the orphanage, knows many children's songs, LOVES to dance and sing. She knows her ABC's and can count to 20. She LOVES music and makes up little dances and sings the songs when she hears the music play. Brandy is a joy to watch on video. (will try and post one) She is a true bundle of joyous energy. She reminds me of my daughter at this age.

Seldom still, into dance and loving LIFE! "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18

BRANDY's family opted NOT to go forward at this time.  She is on the SHARED list and Reece's Rainbow.

ZEKE

This four year old boy is so strong and a survivor. At three yeas old Zeke was found abandoned at a bus station, alone and afraid.

Zeke is a handsome little four year old boy who suffered a burn injury and has scars on his face and contractures of his hands and arms. Zeke will need some reconstructive surgeries to pin his fingers straight and to give him flexibility where he needs it. 
Compression garments and masks can help keep the scars from getting so tight. Shriner's in Cincinnati can help with low/no cost to families seeking to adopt ZEKE.
Even with his hand contractures this child adapted and can pick up items using his thumb and index finger and can independently dress and feed himself.  

Zeke is a quiet little boy who likes to listen to music and play outdoors. Zeke would be an AWESOME addition to your family. He is Special Focus and Great Wall of China is the listing agency.

UPDATE on KEVEN/KEEGAN

Keven is NOW KEEGAN on Reese's Rainbow and he has a $5000 Grant with Madison. Contact Sara at sara@madisonadoption.com on how you can become Keven/Keegan's family!!!

Keven

Meet “Kevin”.

Kevin was born in the summer of 2009. When he was a baby he was involved in an accident that resulted in his scalp, face and right hand/arm being severely burned. Some issues Kevin has include: the absence of most of his hair, missing fingers on his right hand. He has “nubbies”. He is also missing the outer right ear. Kevin has trouble closing his eyes, and his nose has lost the sense of smell.

While these issues seem large, they are manageable. Hats, sunscreen, garments, and masks can help Kevin with is burn injuries. Shriner’s in Cincinnati can help children with burn injuries.
Kevin celebrated his 4th birthday recently. He is in foster care. Kevin can use his right hand in a limited way. He has become left handed as a result of his injuries.

Kevin is smart, and likes to help his foster mom with household task. He can help with holding his own bowl, goes to the bathroom on his own, and can climb a slide. Kevin is learning to count, sing children’s songs and say his ABC’s. He knows animals and sounds.

Kevin likes electronics, TV, DVD’s, CD’s, and the cell phone. He enjoys playing with other kids and is sad when they leave. He is affectionate with his foster mom.

In closing Kevin’s bio… he is a SURVIVOR! Kevin can go far… he just needs a chance! Is Kevin your son?     Kevin is on the SHARED LIST!  Any agency can ask for his file and lock it in for you. 

Welcome to China's Young Burn Survivors Blog

Well It seems Blogspot is being difficult. I am not able to type in "compose", but in HTML. so we will see how this goes.
China has MANY young children who have been burn injured. Through accidents, working in factories, through tragedies such as house fires. These special children are SURVIVORS, first... Yes many people will say "victim", but that is seeing the tragedy of the scars.   I see the children as SURVIVORS first.   The scars are simply where their skin did not heal as well as other areas. 

Some things to be aware of. ALL the CHILDREN featured on this page have scars. EVERY SINGLE ONE will have scars. I have learned in my own story/journey, people tend to "fear" what they do not understand. Scars can be on the surface (on the skin) or inside (emotional). I have some of both. People see the outside first. I want everyone to see the INSIDE where you all can see how the children here have SURVIVED.

Their first families often cannot afford the treatments for burn injuries. Their first families do the best they can and know how to do. Many times it's not enough. Burns are allowed to heal naturally so the scarring may be worse. Fingers contract, and are bent as they heal. Faces are changed, hair lost. Joints that should move, don't. Contractures can be painful. Grafting surgeries and therapies can help.

All the children need is a family to see past the scars and see the little boy or girl inside. Each child wants to be loved, cared for and have a family. Most go through burn injuries alone. No mom to hold them when they hurt. No dad to pick them up and gently place them on the potty. No aunts to teach them silly tongue tricks to get the kids to laugh or make silly faces trying to divert the child's attention from a glowing red toe BP monitor. No uncles to bring them an "Elmo". No gramma's to make their favorite food. The kids are ALONE.

It is my hope and prayer, friends and families will SEE the children I feature here and follow up on becoming that child's FAMILY! I am still working out the "bugs" on how to blog and post. Hoping this gets solved soon.