THE STAR FISH

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.

The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand into the water. He asked, "Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?"

The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun.

"But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?"

The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to the safety of the sea, he said, "I make a difference to this one."

I am contacting you because in the community where I live and work there is a boy , Miguel, suffering from a congenitive liver disease, Caroli. 

His situation is growing worse every month as he is prone to infections but the doctors say he can take no medications (or can't afford them) He comes from an economically poor family, has no resources or family that knows how to help him. 

They diagnosed this problem when he was 8 and he is now 15. He has been in and out of the hospital here but they cannot help him as his problem is so far advanced ... the doctors say the only thing that can save him is a liver transplant. 

However, they do not offer this type of surgery in Central America (maybe in Colombia?) and even if they did he has no money to pay for it (his family has no social security or insurance). 

So, I am looking for some way that Miguel can receive a liver transplant. I have no idea where to start, who to contact, I am looking for any leads whatsoever. Most importantly I need to find out how to get a non-resident alien a liver transplant. I need to find a hospital that would perform the surgery as a charity.

 Does anyone know how this works? How do I get him on a donor list?  Please, if you can help in any way, even to put me in touch with another organization , it would be greatly, greatly appreciated. 

He is a very bright , intelligent child who dreams of being a doctor someday. I have faith that there is a way that he can get help. I wanted to send a summary of what he suffers from:

 Diagnostic impression of Miguel Rodriguez Caroli disease: congenital liver fibrosis, esophagal varices, hemophilia B, Portal hypertension, cholangitis/colelitiasis,cirrhotic liver, upper gastro intestinal bleeding he is allergic to penicillin, had his gall bladder removed in '93, and is O+

All his information is in Spanish, but I will have it translated and send it to you. I will do anything to help. I hope to hear from you. 

Thank you so much for anyway you can help 

Sincerely,

 Kristen Wiebe 

PCV Panama

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