An urgent birthday plea: Save Kalila's life

FOURTH UPDATE (Nov 20) -- We are over $30K! And, we have Paypal set up -- you can donate now by following the instructions here!

THIRD UPDATE (Nov 18) -- Wow, a 5K pledge just came in getting us two-thirds of the way there! More info here.

SECOND UPDATE (Nov 16): Almost halfway there! See new pics and an update on fundraising here.

UPDATE: Over $10K raised so far! Keep it coming!

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In my first post after I landed, I mentioned my host's granddaughter Kalila, and said you'd be hearing more about her soon. The time has come -- please see why in the email below that I'm sending to many of you today, and then help grant my birthday wish (I turn 29 today!) to save Kalila's life by emailing me and my mother (taren dot sk and kelsey dot kauffman, both at gmail) if you can pledge any money.

Many thanks,
Taren

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Dear friends,

I'm in Ghana staying with an old friend of my mother's -- Abdulai
Iddrisu, who went to graduate school with my mom in Sydney more than
30 years ago -- and his welcoming family.

Today is my birthday, and I have a special birthday request for all of you.

When I arrived a few days ago, I met Abdulai’s entire family,

including his only granddaughter, two-year-old super-cute Kalila.

Kalila's mother Faiza is Abdulai's youngest daughter, and she is
almost exactly my age. Sadly, three weeks ago, a Harvard team of

cardiologists visiting Accra diagnosed Kalila with Tetralogy of Fallot
(TOF), a usually fatal heart problem. With immediate surgery she can
live a normal life. (Shaun White, the winner of the 2006 and 2010
snowboarding Olympic gold medals, was a TOF baby.) Without it, Kalila

will die, possibly as soon as in the next few weeks.

Only a few hospitals are well-suited to do TOF surgery. The Harvard
surgeons offered to operate free-of-charge at Boston Children’s
Hospital and tentatively scheduled surgery for the end of this month.
However, *before* Kalila can obtain a visa, the family must provide
the hospital with a check for $36,000 to cover pre- and post-operative

care. Kalila’s family has launched a fund-raising effort in Ghana and
are making some progress, but given the exchange rate they have little
prospect of raising the whole sum, especially not in a few weeks.

So, as my special birthday request, I am writing to everyone I know in the hope that you (or your church, synagogue, company, etc.) would be willing to help. If people
contributed an average of $100, we could meet the goal (but, of
course, please give more if you can, or less if that is all you can

afford). You don't need to send me money immediately -- we are moving quickly on this and haven't yet determined how we're going to handle the money. Instead, just reply to
this email and cc my mother at kelsey dot kauffman at gmail dot com to let us know what you would be willing to pledge. The
instant we know that we and the family will have enough funds, my mother
will contact the Children’s Hospital and get started on visas and
transportation.

Like you, I receive pleas for money all the time for worthy causes (in
fact, I write a lot of them...), and I realize that $36,000 can buy a
lot of important things. But I spend much of my life working towards
large-scale change, and this is different. This is the fate of an
individual child who I have held in my own arms, and who I know whould
have the opportunity to lead a full and productive life if only she
had been born to one of us instead of to my Ghanaian friend. I don't
want to think about how I will feel if she dies next month or next
year and I could have prevented it.

Attached you can find a photo of me and Kalila from my first day here
-- I can proudly report that though she looks a little overwhelmed in
that picture (white people are scary!), since then she has warmed to
me considerably thanks to my lame Peekaboo routine. In fact, she likes
it so much that she has started performing it herself and fully
expects me to be as delighted and surprised when her face appears from
behind her hands as she is when mine does :-) I've also attached a

letter from the surgeon at Harvard/Children’s Hospital. [NOTE: If you're reading this on the blog and want to read the letter, send me an email and I'll forward it.]

Thank you,

Taren

PS - My family knows something personally of the urgency of Kalila's cause.
Almost twenty-five years ago, my parents were offered the chance to

adopt a little Korean girl with TOF. Because the surgery could not be
done in Korea and our insurance would not cover the then-more than

$100,000 cost of the surgery, we delayed eight weeks while my mother

searched for and found outside funding and the least expensive

hospital. By then she was too weak to travel and died. My parents and
I will do what we can, but Kalila needs help, and needs it quickly.