Christine Haveford
An American woman flew halfway across the world to adopt an orphaned little boy with special needs after seeing a heartbreaking photo of his skeletal frame on Facebook.
When Priscilla Morse arrived at the Bulgarian orphanage to adopt her son Ryan, he weighed just seven pounds.
He was on the brink of death.
Now after living with his new family in Tennessee for two years, Ryan is gaining weight and has started to speak.
Ryan had to be rushed to the hospital as soon as he arrived in the U.S as he was so malnourished.
But since his adoption Ryan’s bones are no longer visible through his skin and he smiles like any happy and healthy young boy.
Priscilla Morse first learned about Ryan when she was scrolling through her Facebook in June 2014 and saw his picture on an adoption page.
She and her husband David quickly decided that they wanted to adopt the boy.
The couple have two biological sons of their own, 13-year-old Dylan and seven-year-old Jack. They also have a seven-year-old daughter McKenzie, who they adopted from Russia in 2012.
Like her brother Ryan, McKenzie also has special needs. She has Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect.
Mrs Morse talked to Inside Edition about meeting her son for the first time. ‘He was bones and skin, he literally looked like a skeleton. The first thing that went through my head was, “he’s going to die.”‘
So as soon as she landed with Ryan back in the U.S. in November, she rushed him to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital where doctors immediately put him on a feeding tube.
‘I had never in my life seen doctors look at a child and burst into tears,’ she said. ‘They did call social services. They said, “I’m sorry, he’s probably going to die.”‘
Ryan spent the first two weeks in America at the hospital before being discharged. He was then readmitted shortly afterwards and stayed for an additional month.
But since then, the little boy has been going from strength to strength. Photos of him over the past few years show Ryan gradually gaining weight and gaining color back to his skin and lips.
The Morses have also been able to enroll him in public school where his progress will continue with a special needs teacher.
‘His progress has been nothing short of a miracle in my opinion. The first time I saw him I couldn’t even formulate a sentence.’
‘I was convinced he would die before I got him home and now he is a happy, giggly, active boy,’ Mrs Morse told DailyMail.com.
Sadly, the Morses have learned that Ryan has cerebral palsy, microcephaly, scoliosis, clubbed feet, and dwarfism – which accounts for his small size for his age.
Doctors say it may take years for him to full recover from the special needs he may have developed in the orphanage.
They still don’t know how much he will grow or how well he will be able to speak. But the Morses are patient and positive that Ryan will continue to improve.
Mrs Morse who was adopted herself, had a special needs older brother who died at nine years old. She says she has been inspired to adopt special needs children herself because of how much her parents loved her brother.
‘I was pretty young when he passed away, [but] I remember how much my parents loved him in spite of all his special needs,’ she said. ‘I wanted to give that to a child that was given up because of his special needs. Everyone is deserving of a family.’
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