Today, we invite you to meet Dante. As we mark the beginning of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Awareness Week (February 7-14), we wanted to highlight a child with a heart condition who is currently under care at a Show Hope Special Care Center. Dante was diagnosed with irreparable CHD when we was admitted to our care as an infant, and was not expected not to live more than three years. We are thrilled to celebrate Dante’s fourth birthday this weekend!
Dante attends pre-school five days a week at the orphanage, and his teacher says he is a very good student. His nurse, Erma, shares that Dante has a great vocabulary and is active in spite of his heart condition. In fact, he recently won a class award for running! He also loves to assist the nurses and Dr. Steve as they do rounds and check on the other children in his care center.
Mikey and Rebecca first met Dante while they visited Jiaozuo at the end of last year. Rebecca shares, “Dante quickly caught my attention because he immediately smiled and waved as we glanced into his nursery. His smile was a familiar one, reminding me of one of my sweet Maria’s Big House of Hope preschool kids who also has CHD. During our latest visit, we had the opportunity to spend a bit of time with Dante in his preschool class, which he attends daily with his friend, Debbie.
“That day, the kids were learning how to use scissors. As a teacher, my initial reaction is to want to see what they are doing and join in, so I picked up some paper and together we started cutting. Each time his scissors would snip the paper apart, a huge grin spread across Dante’s face. Then, he picked up the next piece for me to hold while he cut. We shared lots of laughs as we did this until there were no large pieces left.”
Please join us in prayer for waiting children with CHD, like Dante, to remain healthy enough to join forever families and receive life-saving medical care. Thank you to the sponsors and donors who make his care possible! We encourage you to leave a birthday greeting for Dante in the comments section below!
