A Miracle at Soddo

The parents were shrieking in grief and disbelief as they ran their 14 month old little boy to the ER at Soddo Christian Hospital.

Just minutes earlier they had found him upside down in a bucket.  A bucket of mop water.  He had wandered out and managed to tip himself into it, and couldn’t get out.  He literally drowned.

When the parents brought in little Yekebesera, they thought he had been underwater for at least five minutes.  In the ER, he was having seizures which were requiring multiple doses of strong medications to stop them.  Only minutes later, he began “posturing”  – meaning that he was extending his arms and legs in such a way that indicates very severe brain damage.

Our pediatrician admitted him to the ICU, and assisted his breathing with a CPAP machine which we just  purchased through generous donors.  All of the doctors who cared for him that evening thought this little boy would never make it.  But trusting God, and hoping for a miracle, we did everything we were capable of doing.

The next days, Yeke remained seizure-free, and started waking up more.  Here’s what our pediatrician Dave Ayer said when he walked into the room on hospital day #3:

“When I came in Sunday morning and his dad asked me if he could eat…I thought he was joking.  That is, until I looked down and found out this little guy had purposefully ripped off some of his monitoring equipment.  He was interacting normally with his parents and requesting something to drink.  It nearly brought me to tears–today he came off CPAP and is on minimal oxygen support and eating/drinking like a normal kiddo.  My only remaining challenge will be to convince his dad that he actually needs to stay 7 days to finish his antibiotics.”

Praise God for this miracle.  And for donors like you who gave so that this boy could have the gift of life.