José's story:

José Luis was born in 2006 into a broken, poor family situation. It is unclear as to what all brought about his disabilities. In 2013, child protective services became involved, and we at Hogar El Refugio Oasis Children's Home took in him and two of his brothers. They were categorized as abandoned children. José Luis was malnourished and in such poor health at the time that social services admitted him to a nutrition clinic for several weeks to build up his health and strength. When he arrived at the home, he was basically unable to do anything for himself. We pushed him in a wheelchair to move him around, and he soon learned to crawl. As our staff worked with him and his health improved, he gained enough mobility to be able to drag/push himself around with a walker. Over the years, we have tried different times to pursue finding more help for him through physical therapy and medical testing. In 2019, a renowned surgeon from Paraguay officially called his condition 3rd degree cerebral palsy.

He explained that there is no total cure for José's condition, but that his quality of life could be greatly improved by extending the tendons in his knees, and possibly his ankles, to give him enough mobility to walk somewhat normally, most likely still unable to run. José is blessed with a clear mind and is mostly able to intellectually operate normally. He does have speech issues that he is trying to improve by doing speech therapy. More recently, José has turned 18, which by legal terms makes him independent and able to move out of the orphanage to the city of Santa Cruz, where he is much closer to the professional care and therapy he will need for his journey to independence. After a lot of testing and consulting, he has come to decide that he does want to proceed with surgery if the doors open for it. Following is the closest we have been able to estimate the total cost of surgery and recovery. We have chosen the best doctors and clinics that we know of available to us. There are cheaper options, but the recovery care is going to be crucial and very traumatic, and we believe the least we can do is help him get the BEST care possible.

After a lot of doctor visits and research, we have an estimated cost of $20,000 to do the surgery, recovery, and physical therapy. We have a commitment to match up to $10,000, which would get us to our goal. Please prayerfully consider if this is something God wants you to be involved in.