Help Sampson get surgery!

I know you have a big heart.

I also know you want to help...one look at this child....and we all want to help.  Americans are like that.  

This child - with this terrible deformity already covering 100% of one eye and partly covering the other - is in deep need.  He is an orphan in Liberia.  His mother has never been in the picture and his father died 2 years ago from ebola.  He is now facing total blindness (see his eyes) but you and I together could stop that from happening.  We could his change his life - together.  His vision could be likely saved and his facial deformity can also get fixed.

How do I know this child?  Here is how it all started...and it is so random...when you read below, you will think, what are the odds of this chance meeting? 

In mid October I causally tweeted that I was going to Liberia, West Africa, to help Samaritan's Purse and Reverend Franklin Graham dedicate a new hospital.  Liberia, as you know,  has been hit very hard by ebola (thousands died) and the surviving people, besided broken hearts,  have great medical needs with few resources.

Someone living in the USA saw my tweet about my pending trip to Liberia and tweeted me asking if I would help some boy.  Some boy? Who? I don't know how it happened, but the tweet, among my thousands of tweets, caught my attention and I replied with something like "tell me more."

Next I was tweeted a picture of this boy...and like you, I was hooked.  How could I not want to help him?  I wanted to help...but how?  How could I possibly find this child in the nation of Liberia? 

I asked the person who tweeted me the pic, where is the boy?  And then began the journey.  We had very few details about the boy but staff at Samaritan's Purse in Liberia, always industrious,  found him.  They found him 3 plus hours away from Monrovia, Liberia in a jungle village.

They brought the boy to the Samaritan's Purse doctor in Monrovia who examined him and said "he needs an MRI."  OK, how?  Where is the nearest MRI? Two countries away from Liberia in Ghana is where the closest MRI is.   How could we do that?  This child didn't have a passport and certainly no money.  

From Liberia, I posted on my Facebook page what I was doing in Liberia and included a picture of Sampson.  Sampson's condition had captured my heart.

Some time later, while still in Liberia, I received an email from the very kind hearted Dr. Jennifer Ashton, formerly of Fox News but now of ABC News.  In short, Jennifer said, "I am in.  How can I help? My brother is a specialist in this type of medical crisis.  I will call him."

The next thing I knew I was speaking to her also very kind hearted brother, Dr. Even Garfein.  He said, "bring him to the USA and I will do what I can to fix this."  He volunteered his services.

We are on track to get Sampson here to the USA but now I have to figure out how to pay the hospital bill.  If you look closely at his medical condition (and you can get a better idea in a close up picture at www.Facebook.com/greta ), you know this is very delicate surgery - around the face, the eyes and in his head.  I am not a doctor, but I sure know a problem when I see it and Sampson has one.

Dr. Garfein, although he has not yet examined Sampson, and Sampson has not yet had an MRI (he will get that in the USA), said we have every reason to be optimistic.  That was good enough for me. 

I can't turn my back on this child who somehow randomly ended up in my life...so I am appealing to you to help Sampson and help me.  There are more than 1 million who follow me on Facebook....just think....do the math.....if many give $10 or even $1, we can do it.  We can make a huge difference in this child's life.

And a short message to those who contribute: this is what makes America so great.  When faced with the chance to work together to make a big difference in another's life, we do it. 

So thank you in advance to all of you.

By the way, who am I?  I am Greta Van Susteren, formerly an anchor with the Fox News Channel and before that CNN.  I am not a doctor.  I am just someone who is trying to help and I likewise know the others who are helping.  I can vouch for the good intentions of everyone. 

PS. I do have one concern.  I have never done a gofundme account before.  Here is my worry: what IF the hospital bill is only $100,000?  What do I do with the extra money from all the generous people who gave?   I certainly am not going to pocket it personally and I can't track down everyone.  So here is my idea: how about if I give it to flood victims in the USA?  Samaritan's Purse has a program to help flood victims in the USA  and that seems like a good idea.  So...if you donate, understand that if we collect more than we need for Sampson, I will give the balance to flood victims in the USA.