From a graveside hug between a Christian and a Muslim amid the horror the Bosnian War to a multi-national sports club bringing together the youth of multi-ethnic warring parties to sow the seeds of friendship and harmony - from a purpose-built housing and education project for refugees living in rat infested hovels with nothing to eat but the scraps found in the gutters to the state-of-the-art Miracles Centre making and fitting prosthesis in one of the world’s most mined countries… that was Miracles’ Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina from its inception in that tragic country in 1994.
From there – with faith and determination – Miracles established itself in the UK and progressed as the source of rapid relief funding for many families whose complex and life shattering needs could find no other help source to save them from utter despair.
One such family encapsulates how Miracles literally turned despair into hope.
It began with a telephone call from a distraught mother, Sharon, in Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. She had been given Miracles’ number by the Social Worker looking after her 6-year-old son, Liam, waiting for a Bone Marrow Transplant in the hope of saving him from Leukemia.
Sharon had just received a call from her partner, Wayne, telling her to get home asap where their baby son, Kier, was suffering blindness, unaccountable bruising and a severe rash all over his little body. She managed to get home and to get Kier into hospital where he was diagnosed with an almost unknown and devastating disease known as Chediak Higashi Syndrome.
Their plight was desperate. With two children seriously ill in hospital and no funds to help cover transport and subsistence costs their lives were literally tearing apart. In addition to Liam and Kier they also have a middle son, Callum, who was fit and well, but, understandably, starting to feel neglected.
Miracles came to the rescue with rapid response funding for fuel and transport costs, subsistence for their hospital stays and extra cash to cover immediate day to day needs.
Sharon worked, when she could, as a Dinner Lady in Callum’s school and Wayne was a window fitter – when he could get work. They were well under the poverty line and the benefits they received hardly brushed the surface of their mounting debts.
Liam has recovered from Leukemia but Kier’s illness has clouded all their lives. He, too, has undergone a Bone Marrow Transplant and the long hours of hospital treatment are ongoing – as is Miracles’ care and friendship.
We replaced their dying car with a people carrier for the family. We took the boys to meet Father Christmas and Mickey Mouse and we now provide the respite they so desperately need in our Selsey Caravans which now host so many families in real and urgent need.
In return, Sharon is one of the volunteer Miracles’ Caseworker team, working alongside other families like hers in real and urgent need.
