Healing the Children has helped provide the gift of healing to more than 300,000 children from 100 countries over the past 40 years. Our work is led by the heart and passion of volunteers! Doctors, nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, audiologists, host families, administrators, social workers, and so many more have given of their time and talent to help children in need. Here is a story that is sure to brighten your day.
Back in 1994, Jeff Degner (chapter director with HTCIL/IN) escorted a scared little boy named "Henry" from Nicaragua to Chicago. Eventually he had critical esophagus surgery and stayed with a wonderful host family, all orchestrated by Healing the Children.
JUST A FEW DAYS AGO, after all these years, Jeff and Henry reconnected! Henry is now a doctor, a pediatrician, helping needy kids just as he was once helped.
Jeff asked him why he became a pediatrician. His reply was that “the energy of children is contagious and, despite the difficulties they may go through, are always found smiling.” Based on this observation, and combined with his own health experiences as a child, his career as a doctor is his way of giving back to others the same help that he once received. He now lives with his wife in Peru but hopes to return to his native Nicaragua some day.
Thank you Jeff for sharing this great story!
