Supporting Henry our Incredible Hero

Hello to you all (Stephanie Ibemere here) - the village as we often call it. Thank you for coming to visit this special place to learn more about Henry . . . A young, very tall, hilarious, whirlwind of a human that I have been allowed to call my friend and even more, my Nigerian brother by way of Haiti. The blessing which is Henry came into the lives of the Pramuk’s 15 years ago. He has brought his Henry charm to theirs and many of our lives since then.

I will say, my life really hasn’t been the same since I met Henry. His spirit has taught me a lot about being me, my whole self. I thought I loved music until I found out how much Henry loves music. If you’ve been blessed to see him with music, you will know what I mean when I say, become the music. Though his light has been dim in recent years, I have cautiously held the hope that it would return someday soon.

In supporting The Family Pramuk (as I have dubbed my beloved people), I am writing to the village today to seek your support of this incredibly resilient, humble, and awe-inspiring family. From adopting Henry and Sophia during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, through to present day, The Family Pramuk has experienced some incredible hardships. As many of you may know, my dear boy, Henry was recently diagnosed with a carcinoid tumor which had completely obstructed his left lung and spared his lymph nodes. Henry has since had a successful surgery and is in the process of recovering though it has been tumultuous. Steady on Henry!

As we all read each new CaringBridge post with hopes of good news for Henry, you may have asked yourself, “how can I support this family as they navigate this new obstacle?” Where my family comes from, where Henry comes from, we say it takes a village to raise a child. This is not just a parable or a phrase in Nigeria; we live it everyday. I have witnessed The Village Pramuk also lives this out every day from the outpouring of love and support that have been showered on Lauri and Chris thus far. So, to the village of supporters of The Family Pramuk, our cloud of witnesses if you will, I humbly request your support of this family. The unexpected nature of this diagnosis, the treatment it necessitates and, the structure of the U.S. healthcare system all guarantee one thing - Sir Henry’s care will be more than expensive. I humbly ask for support of this family also in the context of this being their second child diagnosed with rare cancer in the pediatric age group.

Henry, the Haitian Hero’s journey to recovery may be long, wrought with pain and some frustration, my hope is as a village we may be able to mitigate/smash some of the “rocks between hard places” for The Family Pramuk.

If you wish to follow Henry’s progress, please feel free to engage via Caring Bridge .