a:18:{s:9:"weblog_id";s:1:"7";s:8:"entry_id";s:0:"";s:6:"status";s:4:"open";s:9:"author_id";s:1:"4";s:6:"sticky";s:0:"";s:14:"allow_comments";s:1:"n";s:16:"allow_trackbacks";s:1:"n";s:10:"entry_date";s:19:"2009-10-17 10:18 PM";s:15:"expiration_date";s:0:"";s:23:"comment_expiration_date";s:0:"";s:14:"trackback_urls";s:0:"";s:18:"versioning_enabled";s:1:"y";s:9:"pages_uri";s:19:"/example/pages/uri/";s:17:"pages_template_id";s:2:"22";s:5:"title";s:34:"Please Help With Esther\'s Journey";s:9:"url_title";s:32:"please_help_with_esthers_journey";s:6:"submit";s:6:"Submit";s:11:"field_id_46";s:2651:"<p>This is a story of journeys, including one last journey that I am asking  for your help with.</p>
<p>Five years ago my friend Karen Smith decided to travel to Kenya on a
mission trip. Her heart was so touched that she formed a group called
Get The Word Out Missions. Since then, GTWO has held successful peace
rallies in a warring rural area of Kenya, conducted medical screening
missions, and built a school.</p>
<p><img alt=\"Esther\" class=\"image-left\" height=\"310\" src=\"/images/uploads/esther-crop.jpg\" style=\"float: left;\" width=\"248\" />In August Karen sent her friends an email about Esther, a
five-year-old Kenyan girl. Esther has a cancerous tumor in her neck
that has surrounded her carotid artery. The condition is too complex to
be treated in Kenya.</p>
<p></p>
<h4>Esther with Karen Smith</h4>
<p>Karen became aware of Esther on her
last trip to Kenya in June. Since then she has hoped to bring her to
St. Louis for treatment.</p>
<p>The way God works these things, Karen knew Doug Vanderslice, the CFO
at BJC\'s Children\'s Hospital. I used to brew beer with Jeff Michalski,
a pediatric oncologist on the BJC/Wash U. faculty. Jeff has huge heart
and became Esther\'s champion in moving things forward</p>
<p>When we couldn\'t get the medical records we needed from Kenya my
sister Teri pointed out that my sister Peggy, in Atlanta, had done
mission work in Kenya. It turned out that Peggy knew the head of the
nursing faculty at the hospital where Esther had been treated.</p>
<p>Through several months of these kinds of \"God moments,\" and lots of
prayer and effort/cooperation among people in the U.S. and Kenya,
Esther\'s treatment began to begin to look like a viable thing.
Surgeons, ancillary services, and the medical faculty at Wash U.
volunteered their services</p>
<p>This past Friday, Oct. 16, Children\'s Hospital agreed to pay the
cost of Esther\'s cancer treatment. BUT WE STILL NEED TO GET HER TO ST.
LOUIS. It will cost about $4,000 to fly Esther and her guardian to St.
Louis.</p>
<p>If you can help with any amount, however small to help bring Esther
to St. Louis It will be greatly appreciated. Get the Word Out, Inc. is
a 501(c)(3) charity, so your contribution is fully deductible.</p>
<p>Thanks for your support, and always for your prayers.</p>
<p>Tom Finan</p>
<p><img alt=\"Tom Signature\" height=\"89\" src=\"/images/uploads/tom signature.jpg\" style=\"float: left;\" width=\"178\" /></p>
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<p>533 Colebrook, Suite A <br />St. Louis, MO 63119 <br />(e) tom@finan.com | (w) www.finan.com <br />(d) 314.961.4087 |&nbsp; (c) 314-517-2466<br /></p>";}