Sapphire and Yanaya live in the Phillipines with limited access to life saving (and impossibly expensive) medical supplies.

One feeding tube costs the same as all other household expenses COMBINED... and they already struggle month to month.

By helping these two girls, we can help their entire families thrive.

As a mom to a son with the same medical needs, but instead with access to the best medical care and insurance covered supplies...I am determined to get these two girls what they need.

Your donation will go directly to pay for SHIPPING COSTS both to have donations mailed to me and to have supplies sent to the Phillipines, and PURCHASING ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES that can't be found through donations.

I have been collecting donated supplies and shipping them to them since July. There is an incredibly generous and sympathetic community of medical parents that are happy to share what they can.

The biggest hurdle for us to continue is... SHIPPING COSTS!

One medium sized box costs between $80-100.

Additionally, if we can cover shipping costs for donations from families in the USA to my home (of which I repack and send to the Phillipines), I can then get even more donations for these girls.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; give a man a FISHING POLE, and you feed him for a lifetime... :)

Aside from shipping costs, my goal this year is to send a high speed blender and essential vitamins to these families to alleviate the cost of buying expensive "medical formula". BlendTec and Vitamix are the only two brands that offer blenders that can blend to a consistency that won't clog and break a feeding tube. (If you have either to donate, that is just as great as donating $, if not better!)

Just like most things, there are disposable supplies, and supplies that are higher quality and/or last longer (sometimes months/years longer). By providing these, we can help these two wonderful families be less dependent on our donations, something that they desperately want.

Some examples include:

Reusable tubie pads vs. Disposable gauze

Silicone o-ring syringes vs. syringes that need to be replaced weekly

Highly absorbent, washable cloths vs. Paper towels

High volume syringes vs. An expensive feeding pump and disposable feeding bags.

Of course, there are some things that can't be reused, or are consumable, that are still too expensive to be sustainable for these families:

Medical tape

Ointments

Vitamins and supplements

Certain special gauzes

The feeding tubes themselves, that in the US are recommended to be changed every three months, but are often used by desperate families until they break otherwise.

About Yanaya (2):

The first photo is 6 months ago, the second is now. The first photo is her at 18 months old, the second at two years old. This right here is the magic of medical intervention. Yanaya has gone from unable to bear weight on her legs, to starting to take her first steps. From sullen and sleepy, to sassy and silly.

Yanaya's cause of her dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) is unknown, but this could also be due to lack of access to proper healthcare. I suspect she has a laryngeal cleft, just like my own child.

About Sapphire (17):

Sapphire drank drain cleaner at 7 years old. It permanently damaged her esophagus and she can only take sips of water and licks of food. She is entirely dependent on her feeding tube to live. The tubes provided by the health system are always attached and limit her ability to live freely, and access her education. The tube she has is also very uncomfortable and poor fitting and causes painful sores and rashes. By providing Sapphire with modern feeding tube supplies, we are giving her a future.

The size feeding tube that Sapphire needs is rare, and I will be purchasing her these tubes if we can raise the funds.