Update on Meja!

Meja was a trooper at the doctors office.
He was in great spirits and really brave.

Meet Meja.  He is a normal 10 year old little boy except for one significant difference, he is totally blind.  We have been very busy the last several months with Mission:180’s “Hampers Of Hope” campaign, and on one of our deliveries we found ourselves at young Meja's home.  Our hearts were really touched by his situation, and we felt really compelled to do something to try and help.  We included his story in our last blog post, and many of you responded generously with funds to help with medical expenses.  We were able to take him to the “Lions First Sight” hospital in Nairobi recently, where several specialists saw Meja.

Sadly, Meja has been given a very poor prognosis.  It seems something caused swelling in his brain, directly behind his eyes.  The pressure cut off the blood supply to his optic nerves for a prolonged time frame, causing the nerves to die, which is the cause of his blindness.  It seems that once nerves have been totally damaged in this way, they can never recover. So Meja has been told he will never see again.  This terrible diagnosis was very difficult to hear, as we were desperately hoping that this would be a treatable and curable condition.  It is even more infuriating because we have been told this likely would have been treatable and preventable had he received proper care early on.

Checking for "refraction". Nothing is happening.

Where do we go from here? What is the next step for Meja? We are committed to helping him so in the new year we will be looking into various residential care facilities where he will be taught how to read Brail, how to walk with a cane, and basically how to live with and cope with his disability. 

A very sad prognosis followed this machine.

We are really hoping and praying for a miracle in this precious little boys life. However, we are also going to do what we can in the meantime to help him. 

Thank-you all for your words of kindness towards Meja, for your prayers for him, and for your generous support of his medical care and now his specialized education.

Jason, Jennifer and Joshua Sheppard

Mission:180 Kenya!