Early this summer one of the women in the commerce program of the Haiti Foundation Against Poverty brought her then 3-year-old son, Jorvens, to their school while a visiting mission team was offering medical care. In the previous few months a tumor had grown just under Jorvens’ left eye. It was quickly determined that treatment in Haiti would not be possible, and in miraculous timing for Haiti a medical visa was obtained so that Jorvens could travel to the U.S. for diagnosis and treatment. He was diagnosed with rhabdomyosacroma in Indianapolis and then transferred to DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids for treatment, where he observed his fourth birthday during his first week there. During the initial treatments he also lost the vision in his right eye. He has responded well to the treatments though also suffering from many of the side affects of chemotherapy. He is being cared for by Frentz and Mallery Neptune of HFAP and a foster family in GR.

In August the deacons of Hope Church voted to donate $1,000 of the proceeds from the recent blueberry pie sale to HFAP to help pay for Jorvens’ care, with the balance raised going into the Adult Mission Trip Fund. Thank you to all who helped make the pies and all who purchased them so that we could provide some assistance for this critical need. In Mallery’s own words of thanks, “Wow! That’s wonderful! I am going through some of his medical bills today and this will really help! Thank you! Glad to hear it was another success this year!”

~Ben Sikkink, Hope Church Deacon