Leonardo’s Journey

Alex and Amber are young, newly married missionaries who have just recently added a new member to their family. A baby boy named Leonardo Antonio (his name means Lion).

Little Leo was born on January 15, 2023 with a cleft palate, respiratory issues and a rare birth defect called Pierre Robin Sequence (his chin and tongue are pushed too far back that he stops breathing). He needs to be constantly on his belly, head down to breathe. If his head is tilted up, his tongue and chin fall into the hole of his cleft palate and chokes him. He is no longer being fed with an IV but through a tube and thankfully he has been stable. Leo will require surgeries, possibly multiple, and will need to stay in the NICU for a while (likely several months). The cleft palate surgery will not be able to happen until Leo is at lease 3 months old.

It looks like they won’t get to go home for a few months, and this is taking a financial toll on the family. They have been living in a small town in SK for the past 3 years pastoring a local church. They currently are living with minimal income and with their visas about to expire, their plan is to move to Mexico where they plan to continue missions.

They are staying at a Ronald McDonald house in Winnipeg, which is an affordable living situation for families with hospitalized children.

However, the complications with their sons health has them in a tricky situation. Leo will likely need more surgeries. They are concerned about travelling with a newborn child who has severe health conditions to a country with different healthcare. There is a lot to consider in this troubling situation, and so to ease their burden, I am asking for help to raise support for them as they live in a foreign city.

Please, dear family and friends, could you pray that the specialists would be able to get him into surgery sooner and that Leo wouldn’t require more than 1 surgery?

Would you please pray that the surgeries he requires would be successful and Leo would make good improvements?

Would you please pray that God would give the surgeons wisdom to know what to do to help him be able to breathe and eat on his own?

Would you please pray that God would give miraculous healing to Leo?

It has been an extremely hard few days for alex and Amber but I know they feel overwhelmed with gratitude for your prayers, support and encouragement.

Please join me in helping to provide for them financially and easing this burden as they recover and care for their newborn.

Thank you in advance. ❤️