Denver Catholic

INDEX Archbishop's Column ......................2 The Catholic Difference ..................4 Letters to the Editor .......................4 Making Sense of Bioethics ............5 Nun of the Above quiz ...................13 Puzzle Page ......................................13 Bulletin Board ................................. 14 Service Directory ........................... 15 13-year-old finds life-long mission FEBRUARY 26, 2014 113 Years of Service to the Gospel Volume XC - No. 8 www.DenverCatholicRegister.org I Follow us on INSIDE WORLD/NATION VOCATIONS PAGE 8 Meet the seminarians to be ordained deacons PHOTO BY FRANCO ORIGLIA /GETTY IMAGES NEWS 'The Church needs your courage,' pope tells cardinals CATHOLIC LIFE LOCAL NEWS PAGE 2 PAGE 6 Same-sex couple tax code law reaches governor's desk Catholic panelists to examine Obamacare BY JULIE FILBY A girl in Fort Collins who felt she had everything in life was inspired by a newborn baby in Ghana who didn't have a chance for much of a life at all. Precious was born eight months ago with a severely de- formed hand and foot. She is what's known as a "spirit child" in her village—a child believed to be possessed by evil spir- its because he or she is born with a physical anomaly or as a twin. Spirit children are reject- ed by their parents, then aban- doned or killed. Sister Stan Terese Mario Mu- muni, M.A.S.E.L., called simply "Sister Stan," a Ghanaian na- tional who has worked as a mis- sionary in West Africa for nearly 20 years with the Marian Sisters of Eucharistic Love, dreamed of establishing an orphanage to care for spirit children in North- ern Ghana. While fundraising in Fort Collins in 2008 she met an unlikely partner for her ven- ture: then 8-year-old Whitney Buckendorf. Their first meet- ing was the beginning of a fast friendship. "I always loved nuns," Buck- endorf, now 13, told the Den- ver Catholic Register Feb. 18 following her day at St. Joseph School where she is a sev- enth-grader. "And I was the on- ly kid at the fundraiser. … Sis- ter Stan loves kids, so we talked all evening long." Fast forward to last July when Sister Stan returned to Fort Col- lins for a month-long visit. After several visits to Colorado since '08, the Buckendorf family— mom AnnTheresa, dad Larry and brothers Jacob and Der- rick—had grown close to Sister Stan; and Whitney in particular. "She told me all about the orphans: their names, ages, what was wrong with them," Buckendorf said. "I memo- rized them all." At that point, Sister Stan had started Nazareth's Home for God's Children in a rundown house in the village of Sang. To date, she has rescued 50 chil- dren, most with disabilities: seven have died from compli- cations and 43 remain in her care. While in Fort Collins last summer Sister Stan told Whit- ney the orphanage had chil- dren that needed surgeries that couldn't be done in Gha- na, most urgently Precious, born with Amneotic Band Syn- drome. She charged Whitney with finding a Colorado hos- pital to provide the complex surgery pro-bono. "I was 12 years old," Buck- endorf said. "I thought she was crazy: how am I going to find a hospital to do surgery?" But that didn't stop her from getting on the phone. From August through November, she made call after call until at last she connected with the right person: Joan Bothner, M.D., chief medical officer at Chil- dren's Hospital Colorado in Aurora. "I had two orthopedic doc- tors that had agreed to do the surgery," Whitney said of sur- geons Francis Scott, M.D., and Travis Heare, M.D. "But she was the one that needed to ap- prove that the hospital would pay for it." All it took was a photo: one look at Precious and Bothner agreed. "It only took a week after I got in touch with her," Whit- ney said, "after four months of calling." Surgery was scheduled for Jan. 22. For four years, Whitney had been raising money for the orphanage by selling baskets and bracelets and through a letter-writing appeal. Class- mates at St. Joseph's also sup- ported her. With the help of art teacher Joan Kinney they made and sold clay pendants rais- ing $900. Family and friends donated $9,500; enough for airfare for Precious and Sister PHOTO PROVIDED WHITNEY Buckendorf, 13, and Sister Stan Terese Mario Mumuni, M.A.S.E.L., admire 7-month- old Ghanaian orphan, Precious, at Children's Hospital Colorado Jan. 24, two days after the baby had surgery. Buckendorf, who lives in Fort Collins, coordinated the funds needed for the baby's travel, medical care and follow up after the life-saving surgery. See Precious, Page 11 PAGE 3

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