You should meet John. He’s four. You saved his life. He was a normal, playful little boy, living outside Jinotega in Nicaragua.
But he started complaining of pain in his stomach. Maybe a bit of bad food, his mother figured. But the pains kept coming — and kept getting worse. John’s energy drained away. He stopped playing. He stopped smiling. They went to a local doctor, but he couldn’t figure out the source of the little boy’s terrible, mysterious pain. His mother found another doctor, and yet another. No luck there either. What they didn’t know was that John had an unusual “mesenteric cyst” deep inside his small intestine — a problem so rare, only 820 cases have been reported anywhere worldwide.
This is a cyst that can perforate the intestine — start internal hemorrhaging — infection — tissue death — and trigger two deadly forms of cancer. But your love stepped in … and rewrote the ending. Your generous support of Esperança enabled us to send a pediatric mission to Jinotega. Dr. Custer and his team looked at John and saw trouble. They scheduled surgery for the very next day. In an intense and complicated operation, three surgeons worked together to remove a very large cyst from a very small boy. Little John was a trouper. After three days of post-op observation, he was back to his old self … laughing, chattering, playing. His mother could not stop thanking the doctors — and thanking God — for sparing her son’s life.
He will turn five soon … thanks to you.