This is the story of our son Luke Nassif. Luke is from China where he was found at 8 months of age in Tianjin. We now know Luke was born with Heterotaxy including Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Luke has had 3 heart surgeries, multiple cardiac caths and one abdominal surgery. This site is to let our family and friends know how wonderful Luke is doing.
Originally Written October 23, 2003
Part 1 Please go to the Journal to read the rest
The story of Fu guang Zhou (Luke).Luke was born in China, he was found in the womens restroom at the railway station of Tianjin on April 16, 2001. The police could not locate any information on him and he was taken to the Childrens Welfare (orphanage). It is mainly for children with health issues.
When Luke arrived at the orphanage the pictures show him to look very healthy and well cared for, while his exact age is unknown he was given August 16, 2000for a birthday.
Luke stayed at the orphanage for 10 months. During that time it became apparent that Luke's heart was not working properly, his fingers and toes became blue. Luke received limited cardiac care at the orphanage. There is an organization in China made up of Americans, Austrians, New Zealanders etc. This group is all volunteers who help the orphans in China. It is called the International Committee for Chinese Orphans (ICCO). The orphanage where Luke was is for orphans with severe medical needs. Many heart babies and those with cleft lip/ palate.
"Melanie" a woman whose prayer partner was the ICCO's physical therapist would ask who she could pray for each week. Melanie could not bear to go into the orphanage but believes prayer is powerful. One of the children she prayed for was Luke.
Melanie is from the United States originally and her husband teaches at a University in China. Melanie was home schooling her children in China. She was part of a home schooling message board on the Internet for Sonlight Curriculum and wrote about her experiences in China. Luke's situation was weighing heavily on her heart, so she asked the other ladies to pray with her for him.
"Susan" a woman from South Texas saw Melanie's post to pray for Luke. Susan knew of a man in Texas "Paul" with children who had similar cardiac problems and contacted him for help. Paul emailed Melanie who put him in contact with "Leslie".
Leslie is a nurse originally from the United States. She volunteered at the orphanage and became an advocate for Luke. She recognized his cardiac condition and began looking for a way to get heart surgery for Luke. Leslie fought hard and looked for anyone to help her save Luke's life.
Paul told Leslie he would contact the Mayo Clinic. His children had previous surgery for heart conditions and he thought they might help.
Paul contacted a cardiac surgeon at the Mayo clinic with Luke's story and asked if Mayo could help. The cardiac surgeon took Luke's story to the Mayo foundation and received approval for Mayo to sponsor this child for all medical care to correct his heart condition.
The surgeon wrote a letter to the Chinese government and institution stating Luke's needs. He expressed the willingness for Mayo to provide Luke medical care free of charge as part of an international charity waiver program.
In addition, Paul began organizing a support network for Luke here in the US. At the same time Leslie was advocating for Luke to receive medical care. The school where Leslie's husband teaches began a fund raising campaign. The school children raised enough funds for Leslie and Luke to fly to the US.
Here in the US a woman by the name of Beth was home schooling her oldest daughter. They were studying China and Beth decided to look at the Internet for information. She found the same message board Melanie was posting Luke's story. People were praying for him, as there was limited medical care available to him. His future looked bleak and most likely he would die.
Beth was keeping up to date on Luke's plight through the message board and began reading about the Mayo Clinic connection. She lives in Rochester and posted a note to that effect asking what could she do to help.
Thank you to those who have followed Luke's story over these many years and to those asking for an update.. He is 20 years old now and living in the twin cities area. He has been managing his own medical condition along with his doctors for the past year. For this reason this caring bridge site will no longer be updated. Thank you again for all the prayers and good wishes over the years.
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