Diseases, Leprosy, Typhoid, Malaria

Let's talk about the 10,000 pound elephant in the room Leprosy!  When I first heard of this organization I was scared to death of the idea of getting Leprosy (not to mention how I would feel if my wife or one of the kids got it).  How would I go through life having personally scarred one of my family members? But, hold on....why don't we have leprosy here in the US?

What causes Leprosy?

Leprosy is caused by a bacterial infection, and can easily be cured by taking a series of pills for a week if it is caught early enough.  If caught after the person starts losing feeling, or even fingers, toes etc. it can still be cured by the same antibiotics, but they need to be taken for an extended period of time.

Why don't we get it in America?

Great question, the simple answer is, because leprosy does not really exist here any more the bacteria also is not around for people to catch it!  Also, it is very difficult to catch!  Usually your bodies immune system is strong enough to fight it off.  But, in poor countries where people tend to be weak and then they get very sick, their bodies are much more susceptible to contracting leprosy.  All of the lepers we will be working with HAVE been cured, and do not have active leprosy, but they have the residual effects which causes them many health problems.

What do the Lepers look like?

In India, they look like you would expect, deformed and missing fingers, toes, feet, noses, ears etc.  This is going to be a real challenge for all of us.  We have never really spent much time around people with horrible disfiguring disabilities.  Frankly, it is my opinion that both Cindy and I are going to really struggle.  The kids are going to have different struggles based on who they are.  For instance Makenzie loves everyone, and is really drawn to people with disabilities, I suspect she will thrive.  On the other hand Carson is very tender hearted, and it is my opinion that he is going really struggle emotionally.  We are spending a ton of time beforehand watching videos etc. preparing for the experience.

Typhoid

This is truly a real and present danger to each of us.  So, we have all been inoculated for Typhoid.  This can happen in several ways.  Cindy, Carson and I chose a simple shot.  Makenzie, and McKay chose to take pills, as they were scared of shots.  Keaton also chose pills because this will be good for 5 years (versus 3 for the shot) and will cover his missionary time.  So the pills sounded like a good option, BUT they had to take 5 doses every other day, so for 10 days they needed to religiously take the pills.  Also the pills had to be taken in the morning before you eat, and you can't eat anything for 1 hour afterwards (the digestive juices will kill the effectiveness of the pill).  Well McKay is our kid who is exacting in everything, so we put him in charge of making sure everyone got their pill.  He did a great job, but then halfway through about 30 minutes after taking his pill McKay started to eat Cheerios.  He is very concerned, because he thinks that maybe 1 Cheerio might have gone down.  He is convinced he is now going to get typhoid, AND Leprosy!  Yes, this is the kid who rappels all by himself, upside down, but is scared of getting a shot.  Go figure.


Malaria

This is the tough one, because we will have to take pills the entire time that we are in India.  The real struggle is that none of the different pills we will have to take are real good options.  All of them have some real big downsides.

So.....sounds fun huh?  Anyone want to go with us?

Our Global Journey Begins

For the past few years as a family we have been discussing ways that we can give back to the community, and at the same time make a meaningful impact on our children.  Several years ago, Cindy had read about this organization called Rising Star Outreach that does works with lepers in India!  Yes I said LEPROSY, and INDIA.  Our busy world just kind of took over from there, and we never did anything more about it.  But about a month ago, the subject came up again, and we did some more research.

The moment of decision came when I called Delta Airlines and a wonderful lady named Kathy spent about 3 hours finding us an itinerary that would work for us, and I could pay for it with my frequent flyer miles!  Good bye 1 million miles!

So, basically, we are leaving Christmas eve, and we are spending 3 weeks going around the world to try and help the lives of some of those that are less fortunate then ourselves.  As we prepare for this journey, we will be chatting about our preparations, for this journey.  Hopefully, you will join us in this journey!