A Boy Named Lucky

By LIVE2540 Digital Content Coordinator, Ashley Cole

In September, I took my first trip to Liberia. I learned lots of cool handshakes, held a chicken for the first time and made many new friends. As I introduced myself and attempted to pronounce those introductions properly, I realized right away that, in Liberia, names mean more. 

I discovered that some children receive their surname after the day of the week that they are born as a celebration of the moment they arrived on earth. Other babies are given names that mean “new beginning” or “God is good” or “peace ruler” - all a foretelling of what their mother’s hope they may embody or become. 

This story is about a boy I met with a very special name - a boy named Lucky Boy - and what he became. 

I was staying with our mission partners, the Tiptons, when we received a call late one afternoon that a child living several hours from the Liberian capital of Monrovia needed emergency transport to ELWA Hospital. We jumped in the truck and dodged through city traffic for several hours to go pick him and his step-mother up near the airport. 

The moment I saw Lucky Boy, my first thought was that this was unfair. No child should ever look the way he did. At twelve months old, he was so malnourished that he could have fit in a three month onesie. His hand, which I held on the drive back to Monrovia, was as cold as ice, and he had trouble keeping his eyes open and focused. 

I knew that if we did not get him to the hospital soon, he would only have a few hours left. 

At ELWA Hospital, the nurses weighed Lucky Boy, measured his arm circumference and ran tests, which showed that he was both severely malnourished and had malaria.

Immediately, the nurses began supplying him with the therapeutic milk (F100) that LIVE2540 provides through a tube to help restart his vital organs and provided medication to treat his malaria, but we knew when we left the hospital that night that Lucky may not survive until the morning.

Over the next week, I watched miracles happen for Lucky Boy as the nurses and Dr. Mikey at ELWA Hospital cared for him. Every day, therapeutic milk was pumped into his body and his small frame began to come back to life. I was shocked when I saw his beautiful brown eyes open, and he was able to focus on his surroundings for the first time.

Within two weeks, we received this photo of Lucky Boy sitting up and eating chicken! By the time he was discharged from ELWA Hospital, he was able to eat solid food and was sent with a supply of Plumpy’Nut to continue restoring his health.

Lucky Boy’s recovery has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with love - a love that crosses oceans and cares for a child that they will never even meet. A love that shows up for the least of these.

When I saw Lucky Boy come back to life with my own eyes, I realized that our incredible collective community of givers teaming up with an unstoppable team of doctors and nurses on the ground in Liberia will be able to end malnutrition in the country of Liberia, one bag of therapeutic milk and packet of Plumpy’Nut at a time.

There are many more children like Lucky, living in the most remote counties, hours from medical care. For these boys and girls, a few hours could be the difference between life and death. We can’t wait to see the doors of The Jesus Loves Me Pediatric Clinic opening wide to children in need across Bong County, Liberia. Thank you for helping miracles like this happen every day!