We need a host family on the double

So thanks to Dr. Bryan Foy and Edward Heart Hospital in Naperville, Illinois, we have a surgeon and a medical center for patient Marie, who is badly in need of surgery. Now, we need a host family. In order to apply for the visa, we must have letters from the surgeon, the medical center, a doctor in Haiti who has examined the patient, and the host family. The host family letter needs to document for the embassy that the the regular living expenses of the patient will be covered by them.

We are putting out the word for a host family and are coming up empty. Marie has a coveted visa appointment at the embassy in the next few days, and we need the host family and their letter for her to have any chance of getting this necessary stamp in her passport.

So John and I are on Google chat, brainstorming furiously about where Marie might stay. A Catholic convent in Chicagoland has been gracious enough to host other Haitian Hearts patients, but they are 45 minutes away from the hospital. As we are chatting away, increasingly desperate, a woman named Kim, who is staying at John's guest house in Port-au-Prince comes into his room. As John has Marie staying at the guest house, many of the guests are aware of her situation and are trying to help. A group of American visitors has just arrived and are getting their room assignments. Kim wants to tell John something.

"Your new roommate is from Naperville."

Less than an hour later, we have a letter emailed to the embassy stating that Patrick, John's new roommate and his wife Patricia O'Donnell will serve as Marie's host family.

Thanks to them for being another miracle for Marie.