Letter from Jacob with Recent Updates

Note - because of the loss of Jacob's vision, this letter was typed by someone else as he spoke it.

March 18, 2009

Dear Chris,

I hope this note finds you well. You must be wondering why I have been silent for so long. Let me try to briefly explain what has happened so far.

As you probably remember, we were planning to go through the kidney transplant operation at the Apollo Hospital at the end of January. But before the operation, I developed internal bleeding in both eyes. As a result, I lost the vision in both eyes. I also have a wound on my right foot.

An operation was performed on my right eye at the Apollo Hospital on the 27th of Jan. to try and restore the vision but it was not succesful. I am still hopeful and am under treatment for that eye. The vision in my left eye is coming back slightly. The eye surgeon wants to perform on operation on this eye as well to reduce the internal bleeding. But since the sight is improving slightly, we asked him if we could stay for a couple of weeks more to see whether the situation would improve further. The Dr. agrred to wait.

The wound in my foot is healing, slowly but surely. Praise God.

With all these unforseen developments, the Senior Pastors of the AOG Church felt that Sureshni, my wife, should not be the kidney donor. They felt that Sureshni needs to be in good health to look after me, our 3 children (two daughters aged 16 and 14 and our son aged 9) and the ministry in our Church. As such, we are now looking for an alternate donor.

The money you sent has been invested in a Fixed Deposit. We will be using the interest (approx. Rs. 13,300/month) towards the recurring expenses eg. dialysis (twice a week) , doctors' consultation fees, medicines etc. The medical expenses for a month are approx. Rs. 133,500 (US $ 1180).

I trust this has helped you to understand our situation. We thank God for you and the others who contributed so generously to help us in our hour of need. Please keep us in prayer at this trying time.

God Bless you.
Jacob Perera