Realizing they couldn't care for her at the orphanage, the staff took her to the local hospital, where they gave her a feeding tube and an oxygen tube. Though they lacked the ability to accurately diagnose TEF, the local hospital also suspected the condition when they noticed the formula Virginia was given via the feeding tube coming back up out of her oxygen tube. Realizing that she could not be given formula until the TEF was treated, the hospital inserted a PICC line to provide Virginia with needed nutrients to prevent her condition from worsening while they waited to find out where she could go to get the help she needed.

For nearly 2 weeks, Virginia lived in the hospital. The doctors confirmed the heart abnormality. It was a VSD, which was shockingly severe for a child her age. Her heart had a hole that measured 1.3 cm. Most VSDs are millimeters in size, so the simple fact that hers could be measured in centimeters makes hers the most severe of any we've ever seen. To further diagnose the VSD, she needed an angiogram, but the local hospital told her orphanage that they could not do an angiogram due to the TEF, and even if they could, they couldn't treat either condition. Her only hope was to be transferred to a larger hospital which had the resources and expertise to properly diagnose and treat both the TEF and VSD. Her orphanage began calling all the foster homes and medical assistance programs they knew, but no one had any room for Virginia. Finally on Thursday, August 28, her orphanage called us, desperate for a way to give Virginia the chance she needed to survive.

Though we really had no open beds in the foster home, we understood that if we turned them down, Virginia would die. There was no other option, so we said yes, realizing the enormity of the physical and spiritual battle Virginia would face, and us with her. The orphanage moved fast as soon as they knew we would help. Virginia left her small-town hospital at 2:50 in the afternoon on August 28. The airline would not allow her to travel with her much-needed PICC line and oxygen, so at 2:50, Virginia was unhooked from all the machines saving her life, and moved even more securely into the palm of the One who sustains all life. After a two-hour drive to the nearest airport, Virginia and the orphanage doctor boarded a plane for Beijing at 6:30 p.m. Suffering from a serious bout of pneumonia and off her oxygen for the first time since coming to the hospital two weeks before, Virginia's breathing became so labored during the flight that she would go into severe coughing fits and turn blue. Since the doctor was not allowed to travel with any of her much-needed medical equipment, all she could do was pat Virginia's back to try and loosen the mucus and hope that she could get a gasp of air. For 8 hours, tiny, 6.5 pound Virginia had absolutely no nourishment and no oxygen assistance.

The plane landed at 11 p.m., and we met them at the airport. We immediately went to Beijing Children's Hospital, and in the car with a much-needed oxygen bag, her condition began to improve. Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the hospital and took her into the ER. The doctors recognized the severity of her condition, so they immediately moved her from the waiting area into a bed.

That's when it happened.

About one or two minutes after walking in the hospital door, Virginia's heart stopped and she began turning blue. The doctors and nurses swarmed around, administering CPR and giving her oxygen. She came back. Some might look at this and see what went wrong… her heart stopped; she almost died. These things are true, but when we look at the situation, what we see is a seriously-ill one-month-old baby whose life was miraculously sustained until the moment she was placed on the table of the only place with the expertise, experience, and resources to treat her.

If her heart had stopped a few minutes sooner, she would have died in the car. If her heart had stopped two hours earlier, she would have died on the airplane. If her heart had stopped a week earlier, she would have died in a hospital that couldn't save her. If her heart had stopped a month earlier, she would have died in the arms of her family. Instead, it stopped a minute after she was placed in the bed in one of China's top pediatric emergency rooms. It didn't stop a moment too soon.

The fact that this happened when it did also served to push Virginia's case to the top of the priority list in the busy ER. After about 30 minutes in the ER where they brought her back to life and stabilized her, she was moved to NICU where they put her on an EKG machine, administered O2, and restarted the PICC line. The doctors have told us that though she is now stable, her condition is very serious, but they hope to begin doing diagnostic tests soon so that they can understand the full extent of her conditions and develop treatment plans to correct both her VSD and TEF.

We are so thankful for the miracles we've already seen in Virginia's life. Some might look at her life and see only the tragedies and the things that have gone wrong. We look at her life and see the fingerprints of God. We are thankful for her life and for the opportunity to help her, and we are indescribably blessed to see the work of His hands in such an astoundingly beautiful way.

Administering Oxygen in the car on the way to the hospital	Administering CPR	All the equipment needed to save Virginia
Bagging her

Update - September 4, 2008
At 8:30 this morning the ICU nurse called to inform us that Virginia was not doing well. She asked us to come in to visit with the doctors in-person about Virginia’s case. When we arrived at the hospital at 10 a.m., they explained that 3 days before, they had taken her off of the breathing machine because she was doing a little better. Also, they needed to do a test to further diagnose her TEF that could only be done when she was not using the breathing machine. She did fine for about 1.5 days without having the breathing machine, but then her breathing became worse and worse. They wanted our permission to try a new antibiotic on her pneumonia, and also to tell us that she needed to go back on the breathing machine. Finally, they told us that they were very concerned about her kidney functions and other bodily systems; nothing seemed to be working as well as it should. They advised us that her condition was very serious, but they would not let us see her due to fear of contaminating her room and giving her another illness. Shortly after lunch, the doctors called again. They asked us to come back to the hospital and wanted to know how long it would be until we could be there. They were calling with the sad news that Virginia “wasn’t going to make it” much longer, and they wanted us to see her before she passed away. We were still at the hospital tending to another child’s case, so we rushed to her floor. This time, they ushered us into her room to be with her in her final minutes. About 20 doctors and nurses were working feverishly, trying to keep her weak heart going. The doctors diagnosed heart failure. The breathing machine was giving her oxygen, but they told us all of her other bodily systems were shutting down. We stayed for about 4 or 5 minutes before the doctors asked us to go back into the hall so that they could continue working. We went into the hall and began praying. Twenty or 30 minutes later, the doctor came out. But the news he had was not the news we feared. “Go home,” he said, “She’s still very serious but not so close to death anymore. If we need you to come back, we will call you.” Yet again, little Ginny’s life was miraculously sustained by her Father, and we were the ones blessed to see the miracle. Please continue praying for Virginia. Her condition remains very serious.

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