Medical Furlough for Tonya

Dear Praying Friends & Family,

Please keep our family in your prayers, especially Tonya.

We are writing to let you know about Tonya's need for a medical Furlough.  We had talked about her health trouble early this year, February or March, I believe.  The prices of tickets were very high at the time that we wanted to plan a trip (June-July), due to the Olympic games in London.  We were then told about trying a gluten free diet to see if that would help.  So her doctor agreed that it would not hurt to try that if the cost was too much to travel in July.  But he said that if we did not see a change for the better she would need to return to the USA for treatment (that treatment being either a full transfusion or multiple iron and vitamin infusions over the course of 8 weeks).  She gets her blood checked almost monthly.  And she has been on the gluten free diet since March.  Her blood work was holding steady or only dropping a tenth of a point here and there.  So we thought that she was doing alright.  But the past few weeks she has noticed a definite change in how she feels, and she has started passing out frequently.  And then we got her last blood work results back the first of last week.  Her iron levels have dropped a full 3 points, her red blood cells are also pretty low this time (which shows that her body is now using up the stored iron in the red cells).  After talking with her doctor, he says that it is very important to get treatment as soon as possible.  The infusions are not possible here, and the transfusion really isn't either due Tonya's somewhat rare blood type.  So we have a ticket reserved for her for the dates of 25th September - 27th November.  She will be flying directly into Little Rock, AR, which is where her doctor (a hematologist) is.  The kids and I will try holding down the home front while she is away.

We normally do not send email requests like this; but the plane ticket alone is $1,700 (that is round-trip from Kisumu, Kenya to Little Rock, AR), and that does not take into consideration the cost of living in the USA for at least 8 weeks.  If anyone feels led to help with this medical trip, then we thank you in advance.  Please feel free to send messages of encouragement to Tonya at mail@shelbysinkenya.org.  And if the Lord leads to help financially, please mark your check clearly with a note for "Tonya Shelby's Medical Furlough" & send to: BIMI, P.O. Box 9215, Chattanooga, TN 37412;  or you can send it to our Home Church: Bible Baptist Church, 3301 North First Street, Jacksonville, AR  72976. 

Thank you for your prayers during this time.

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya