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'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.
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.***
