Richard Hotes Personal Visit to Elijah and Hoye Family
I flew to San Francisco yesterday to pay a surprise visit to Elijah and the Hoye family and to go with them to see the wonderful Neurosurgeon, Dr. Nalin Gupta, UCSF Medical Center, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, who has so generously agreed to examine our sweet Elijah's case.
I knew it was important for me to be there because the possibilities for Elijah's prognosis were anywhere from modestly positive to catastrophically bad. The report for Elijah as it happens is very, very sad. Because of the extreme lack of availability of medical care in Haiti, it took a very long time for him to receive his shunt surgery. The result is that his brain tissue growth was reduced by at least 50%. This technically predicts that Elijah will have terribly limited capabilities in his life.
A big "however", which to me is far more important, is that everybody who has met Elijah immediately senses there is something very special about him. Something bigger than we are is happening here. He's a miracle baby. It is a miracle that Elijah was even found in the bushes in Haiti by missionaries Bobby and Sherry Burnette who brought Elijah into their orphanage to care for him.
It is a miracle that he is alive at all, a miracle that he was able to receive surgery, a miracle that we got this tiny, nameless human being a passport, a miracle that he is in the United States of America now, a miracle that he is seeing one of the greatest neurosurgeons in the world and a miracle that he is being cared for and living with the most loving family you could find.
With this many miracles all in one little orphaned Haitian baby so far, it kind of reverses our viewpoint doesn't it? Instead of wondering if a miracle is possible, it seems like it is really impossible to imagine that there aren't even more and bigger miracles on their way!
Elijah's picture should be in the dictionary next to the word "miracle"! He is, indeed, a living and evolving miracle before our very eyes! Please keep your prayers coming for Elijah and for the Hoye family. They are my personal heroes.
- Richard Hotes
