The background from Charmian - In August 2020 Aaron got gravely ill while on holiday - a very harrowing experience. I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. Anyway, praise the Lord that we did. Diagnosis ended up being viral pneumonia which caused a partial lung collapse.

In February 2021 doctors finally made a lot of progress in working out why Aaron still wasn’t better following the pneumonia he had in August.

Our pediatrician started liaising with a pediatric pulmonologist in Cape Town and following an MRI, Aaron apparently has a mass at the base of his brain stem and down his spine a bit. Quite a chilling diagnosis to get.

We are linked in with specialists at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town where we have happened upon one of the top pediatric neurosurgeons in the world.

The mass needs to come out as it is affecting his functioning. They will only know the full extent of it all once they operate.

In the mean time we have gotten Aaron a B-Pap ventilator machine which he uses at night as the pulmonologist worked out that he wasn’t breathing properly when he was sleeping causing a massive build up of carbon dioxide in his blood which was causing its own set of problems. We are seeing positive changes in the week that we have been using it and are grateful to this specialist who from Cape Town walks with us in this.

We have now heard from the hospital and hope to start the process of getting down there. Aaron’s passport went in for renewal on Dec 2019 and of course is still stuck in the (Zimbabwean) system. We will only be able to get his new one out when we can show the passport office a date for surgery and payment towards it - too many ‘fake’ medical emergency notes before us!

Anyway - taking it a day at a time.

A note from Jen - The family have to pay about £8000 in advance for the operation, as well as sort out accommodation, travel and living expenses. I have set the target quite low and will adjust as we go. Thank you.

THANK YOU so much for all of our donations, helping us to meet the targets as we go! It is very much appreciated.

Update 2 March 2022 - Message from Charmian: Our precious Aaron went to be with the Lord at 7:15pm on Weds 22 Feb. His dad was with him & it was peaceful. He was in High Dependency being treated for aspiration pneumonia but in the end it appears the tumor had the final say. Thank you for caring for us & praying with & for us.

Aaron's celebration of life is on Fri 3 March at New Life Centre Church - Windsor Ave, Gweru at 2pm (12pm GMT).

Livestream here: https://evt.live/aaron-s-service

I cannot thank you all enough for supporting this beloved family xx Jen