Love Without Boundaries

While very difficult to think about, in many countries around the world, babies born with medical needs are frequently abandoned. In China alone, over 100,000 children each year are left on their own. They become orphans because of medical conditions such as premature births, heart defects, or cleft lips. While each child is precious in God’s perfect eyes, in many societies, those with special needs are sadly found unworthy and discarded.

Such was the case for tiny Ryder, who entered the world last Christmas on a cold, snowy night in east Asia. Rather than being welcomed with prayers of thanksgiving, he was left outside in the cold. When discovered by a passerby, he was in critical condition.
Thankfully a call was made to Love Without Boundaries, an international charity that provides healing, education, and refuge to vulnerable children around the globe. Their team members rushed the little baby, who was blue from the cold, to a nearby children’s hospital. Ryder weighed just 4.4 pounds and was quickly diagnosed with severe pneumonia and a heart defect.

Once in the intensive care unit, Ryder was placed on a ventilator, which mechanically pumped oxygen into his fragile body. For two weeks, doctors said they didn’t know if he would survive. Countless prayers were lifted for him to find the strength to hold on, and in late January, he was finally able to breathe on his own.

Ryder remained in the hospital until late May, as he battled infections and struggled to gain weight. Tears of joy were shed when he was finally strong enough to be discharged. Ryder was then taken to one of Love Without Boundaries’ healing homes, set up for orphaned children needing extra care and interventions. What these special homes provide most of all is the one necessity every orphaned child deserves: the gift of knowing they are loved.

The first five months of Ryder’s life were difficult ones, from being left in the cold to only seeing the world from inside an incubator. But now, because of the kindness of those who support Love Without Boundaries’ programs for vulnerable children, Ryder is truly thriving.
His first smiles and giggles were recently celebrated, and he is starting to babble. Ryder’s transformation from a frail infant to a now-healthy baby boy calls forth scripture from Isaiah 58: “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will appear.” Ryder’s healing has indeed appeared. Ryder’s life truly matters.

There are three little words those at Love Without Boundaries believe fully: “Every Child Counts.” Every child born is a gift from Almighty God, and every child whose life is saved is a blessing beyond measure. As long as there are children like little Ryder who have no one else to believe in them, Love Without Boundaries will continue their work to bring hope and comfort to those who are often forgotten.