The Orona family's story

My heart aches this morning for a family, a family I met through our local Mended Little Hearts group. My heart aches that their beautiful baby boy, at 6 weeks old, has never seen the outside of a hospital. My heart aches that this baby, born with HLHS, will have to undergo two more heart surgeries before he's five. My heart aches that this same family lost their apartment to an unexplained fire on Tuesday. And my heart aches that this family is now restricted to see sweet Christopher because asbestos was found in their apartment's remains.

Our local news station did a story on the Orono family yesterday. You can see the video and read the story by clicking below:

Check out the title of the story: "Family displaced by fire grateful for support".

Grateful? The emotional toll of heart surgery is high. The devastation of a fire is intense. But both? Christopher will be discharged soon and this family doesn't have a home to take him to. It just goes to show you the power of community and generosity, that this family can find gratitude in the midst of their suffering. "It's just amazing how something like this can happen and you see all the good in people who come together to help strangers out," says Orona (Christophers dad).

An account has been set up to accept donations for this family at any KeyBank branch. It's called the "Jerry Orona Donation Account". Whether you can donate or not, please say a prayer that God would comfort and provide for this family just starting on their CHD journey.