BOY’S PLIGHT INSPIRES CHURCH

In a Duluth church office off Ga. 120, a group of men and women dote over 1-year-old Jeffri Montenegromoran.

For months, these members of the Korean Community Presbyterian Church prayed that he’d come here one day, that somehow they could save his life.

Now, Jeffri is here. Now, they say, they hope the miracle Jeffri needs isn’t too far off either.

Sometime around 1:30 p.m. today, surgeons at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta will insert a shunt into Jeffri’s head to drain excess fluid from his brain.

It will be the first of two surgeries Dr. Roger Hudgins, a neurosurgeon, will perform to save Jeffri, who suffers from a severe case of spina bifida, a congenital birth defect.

It also will be the second time in as many years Hudgins has helped save the life of a foreign-born infant suffering the affliction.

Dr. Moo Hee Lee, a member of the Korean Community Presbyterian Church in Duluth, met the infant in May during a missionary trip to Nicaragua.

He was examining Jeffri, then 7 months old, when the church pastor happened by, stopped and immediately began praying.

In addition to severe spina bifida, Lee said, the infant suffered from water on the brain, or hydrocephalus.

Over the next few days, Lee would examine some 700 people in the small village where Jeffri lived. One-third of those, he said, needed medical intervention. Among them, Jeffri was unforgettable.

The Rev. James Jung, senior pastor of the 1,300-member Korean church, said his heart sank when he saw the infant.

When his team of missionaries returned home, they told Jeffri’s story to the church membership.

What can we do? Jung asked.

They gathered that night around the altar and prayed for guidance. Kyung D. Kim and his wife, Haewon, of Suwanee offered to pay for Jeffri and his mother, 21-year-old Jasmina Moran, to travel here and let them stay in their home. Jung and Lee wrote a letter to Children’s Healthcare asking the hospital for help.

In August, they received word that Jeffri’s surgery had been approved. The hospital would underwrite the cost.

On Sept. 14, Jeffri’s first birthday, the infant and his mother arrived in Atlanta.

In addition to draining excess fluid from the infant’s brain, Hudgins will try to repair Jeffri’s spinal cord and remove the orange-size mass of skin that has grown around the cord.

Two years ago, Hudgins performed the same surgery on an Iraqi infant who captured the nation’s heart after soldiers with the 48th Brigade Combat Team from Georgia helped bring that baby, Noor al-Zahra, to the United States. The soldiers encountered the baby while raiding a house near Baghdad. Moved by her plight, they made connections that led to a rare trip out of Iraq for the baby, her father and grandmother.

Childspring International, a charity that arranges medical care in the United States for sick children from abroad, arranged her medical care.

Jung’s church, which participates in two to three foreign missions a year, arranged Jeffri’s care and recently raised $3,000 to help cover the cost of the care while he is in the United States.

Jeffri’s severe form of spina bifida caused part of his spinal cord to protrude through his back.

There are about 130,000 children and adults in the United States with spina bifida, said Jim Okula of the Spina Bifida Association of Georgia.

In Georgia, the number is estimated at 1,800, but Okula said doctors believe it could be twice as high as that.

In about 70 percent of cases, Okula said, the birth defect is preventable by including folic acid or vitamins in the mother’s diet before the birth.

Speaking through a translator Tuesday at the church, Jasmina said she is “grateful for the blessing that God has given” her and for the generosity of the Korean Community church.

Said Lee: “We continue to pray for Dr. Hudgins. He can do the surgery, but this is a special case that will require God’s mercy.”

FUND-RAISER

Spina bifida afflicts about 130,000 children and adults in the United States, including an estimated 1,800 in Georgia. Upcoming is a fund-raiser to help combat the disease.

> What: Third annual Walk ‘N Roll to benefit the Spina Bifida Association of Georgia.

> When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 19

> Where: North Metro Miracle League’s Alpharetta Adaptive Sports Complex at North Park, 13450 Cogburn Road, Alpharetta