Impact Story
Medical Funding Program
Enoch Murray-Brent
In this month's impact story we are featuring 10 year old Enoch, who is a part of our medical funding program. Through this program, and because of incredibly generous donors to his medical fund,Connected Hearts Ministry was able to raise over $8,000 to pay for a motor for Enoch's wheelchair, as well as leg braces to give him the mobility and independence he needs to thrive.
Enoch was adopted by Angie and Jason Murray-Brent. God laid it on Angie's heart to adopt early in life. Prior to their marriage they had discussed adopting when the time was right. They now have four children, two biological and two adopted. Below Angie and Jason shared information about Enoch, and how adoption has changed his life. They also shared with us how much adoption has changed their own life, and how it has helped their faith grow greatly. Through this story we hope that you will see how much your support to our programs are helping children not only find a forever family, but thrive in their forever families once they are adopted. Your support not only brings children home, it also changes the quality of their life forever.
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Briefly describe what medical diagnoses and challenges Enoch has.
Enoch was diagnosed with (AMC) while he was still in orphan care in China. AMC is a series of 2 or more congenital joint contractures (a limitation in the range of motion) within the body. Enoch is affected in his elbows, wrists, knees, and feet. His muscle development has also been affected. God provided tremendous medical care for Enoch while he was still living in his orphanage in China. During the time we were waiting for our adoption paperwork to be processed and for permission to travel to bring him home he was blessed to have a group of people that traveled with him to Hong Kong to have surgery on his clubbed feet, and later major surgeries on his knees. These surgeries allowed Enoch to learn to walk upright with leg braces at the age of four. Through much rehabilitation, effort, and determination, Enoch learned within a year to walk on uneven ground and even up hills. These were milestones that his surgeon never believed would be possible. Due to the limited bend that Enoch has in his legs he is still unable to walk up a flight of stairs, but he can extend his legs fully and pull himself up a few stairs at a time. Enoch has had several skin issues on his legs due to wearing his leg braces for so many hours during the day. Fortunately, the wheel chair has allowed for him to wear the braces less and this has reduced the number of skin infections has had recently. Overall, Enoch is a very healthy boy. He is rarely ill and has always recovered quickly when he has been sick.
Briefly describe why it was important for Enoch to be adopted due to his medical needs.
Although Enoch did receive his foot and knee surgeries in Hong Kong, his care would have been hard to maintain within his orphanage that housed 500 children at the time. When we adopted Enoch he was very underweight, malnourished, and emotionally traumatized. It took several years of being a member of our family before Enoch truly trusted and accepted us. We have been blessed to have an excellent orthopedic doctor that we see every six months at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Enoch has had surgery on one wrist and both thumbs since arriving home. Both of these surgeries have helped him to gain strength and to have the ability to hold a cup and to open up his hand in order to play piano.
How did Connected Hearts medical funding program help Enoch and your family?
Enoch and the rest of our family have been tremendously blessed by Connected Hearts Ministry. His leg braces, motor for his wheelchair, and extra wheel for his wheelchair are all necessary for Enoch to be more mobile and to be able to connect with his peers and family members. We are very thankful to Connect Hearts and the many donors that gave to Enoch to help him to have these opportunities.
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You can help children, just like Enoch, be adopted and thrive in their new families. Join our Give 1 Help One campaign and help turn orphans into treasured and loved sons and daughters