Saving Baby Deo: Part 1

Children’s Heart Project is a Samaritan’s Purse program that arranges life-saving heart surgery for children born with congenital heart defects. This critical surgery is unavailable in many countries around the world, such as Uganda.

When Samaritan’s Purse met Deo, it was clear that he was in desperate need of surgery.

“Because of his heart problem, Deo was not thriving. He had difficulty eating his food and finishing a meal because he was just so weak.”— Sheena Basemera

In this episode, Kristy Graham invites listeners to witness this miracle story. Hear from his translator, Sheena Basemera, the director of the project, Cindy Bonsall, and the intensive care nurse who transported Deo to the United States, Shelly Kelly.

Deo’s journey to the United States was far from easy. From canceled flights to emergency detours, every step of his journey was a struggle. Cindy Bonsall shares how she didn’t know if his body could survive the journey, but she knew that there was no alternative. She described it as “God’s keeping power” that had kept Deo alive to this point.

“I was praying a lot, but I felt that burden. So, it came down to the point, do we or don't we bring him? If we don't bring him, the option is he definitely will die. If we do bring him, there's going to be that risk that something could happen on the commercial flight. But at the end of the day, we decided, ‘Lord, we're gonna trust You and we're going to bring him.’” – Cindy Bonsall

Shelly Kelly, an experienced critical care nurse, was prayerfully committed to getting Deo to the U.S. for surgery. After many delays and cancellations, she continued to extend her trip to Uganda—not wanting to return to the U.S. without Deo by her side.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, Samaritan’s Purse staff were praying daily for a miracle. Finally, they were on their way, but while on the commercial flight Deo’s oxygen dropped dangerously low. Soon, Shelly was able to stabilize him, but with hours left in their flight, the oxygen tank was nearing empty. Shelly and Sheena knew they didn’t have enough oxygen. All that was left was prayer.

“So, I sat in my seat and I prayed. I said, ‘Lord, may you make a way. You are God who makes a way where there seems to be no way.’” – Sheena Basemera

Miraculously, Shelly remembers looking back down at the oxygen tank and seeing that it was almost full. They had enough oxygen to make it to New York City.

“So, we were able to finish that flight with like an eighth of a tank of oxygen left. And it was a miracle, it was absolutely a miracle.” – Shelly Kelly

But their journey wasn’t over. They now needed to transport Deo from New York to Cleveland Clinic where a team of doctors were anxiously awaiting his arrival. You don’t want to miss Part 2 of this story, releasing soon, to hear more about how God continued to work miracles. Make sure you are subscribed to On the Ground with Samaritan’s Purse wherever you listen to podcasts so that you don’t miss it.