Last week we sent out the following need alert to our Deeders.

Family in Need of Medical Device for Adopted Son – (Need 14.5)

15 months ago a loving family with three biological children adopted a son from China, Josef.

In late January, their lives took a turn they did not expect. They were woken to hear their, 3 year old, boy making strange noises, and when they went to him in his room he was shaking, foaming at the mouth and his eyes were rolled back in his head. He started to turn blue and stopped breathing. They called 911 and Josef was rushed into CHOA at Scottish Rite where he was diagnosed as having had a febrile seizure.

On February 6th, Josef woke with a fever, they immediately gave him fever meds to get his temp down. The mother sat holding him and then his legs twitched, he started grinding his teeth, his eyes glazed over and again he started seizing. The family again called 911. And again, watched helplessly as their sweet boy turned blue and stopped breathing. He was rushed to CHOA again. His fever soared to 104. His seizure lasted a full 30 minutes.

This time little Josef was kept in the hospital and has gone through many tests. The results showed that Josef has kidney issues that had not yet been discovered and PVR – damage to part of his brain directly related to his premature birth…..(He was found on the back-ally streets of China, just a few days old, weighing 3lbs 3oz.) This damage makes him more prone to seizures and motor control issues. Currently they have been prescribed anti seizure medicine to give him as needed if his seizure lasts more than 5 minutes. At this point the neurologist is not convinced that his seizures are purely febrile (temp related), because of the way and length his last seizure presented.

While he was in hospital Josef had another seizure and again, he stopped breathing and turned blue. As you can imagine these seizures are horrifying for the family. 

Our hearts ache for this family and this boy.

So, here is the need:

As parents, they are having a hard time sleeping and functioning normally because they need to keep an eye on Josef constantly.

What we would like to do:

1.) Buy them a mat by Emfit that can be put under Josef’s mattress that would detect when he has a seizure. This would give them such peace of mind and an alert to know when they need to run into action and call for help. Timing is essential with his seizures.  The cost is $645.  

2.) We would also like to buy them a watch by SmartMonitor that Josef would wear that would monitor his movements and alert the parents whenever he shows seizure activity and again give them the ability to call for help immediately. The cost is $199 to buy the watch and $30 per month monitoring. We would like to buy 1 year of monitoring.

Total Need Cost  = $1,204.00

How you can help:

1.)  Email rodney@oneneed.org if you would like to work directly with this family on this need.
2.)  Make a 100% tax deductible donation at www.oneneed.org toward this need.  Make sure you note need #14.5 and also email rodney@oneneed.org We will then work directly with the family.

We know that they may be able to “get away” with only one of these, but both would be best.  So, we are praying and believing in the best!

We love each one of you very much and are thankful to be serving with you,

The One Need Team
Colossians 3:17

THE RESULT: The Deeders met the full need in less than 10 minutes.  More contributions came in the following days and we were able to exceed the need!