update on Tiana

hi friends, 

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for little Tiana and her family these past few weeks. It has been a difficult journey for everyone affected by this - especially her family, but He has proven so faithful.

A few weeks ago, after many days of life support, Tiana's parents began the process of completing tests to determine Tiana's level of brain activity. They completed a series of tests twice and both times the results were negative. Her parents then began the process of looking into organ donation. Tiana had four organs that could be donated. In a matter of hours, doctors found organ recipients, and on April 26th, Tiana passed away. Since organ donation is really rare in China, Tiana was actually the first international organ donor in China. 

That being said, it has been a emotional and difficult time lately for the Winger family and those connected to them. And yet, His faithfulness has been so evident. This past Sunday afternoon was Tiana's memorial service. Not going to lie, it was hard. Luke and Davi chose to have a time of worship at the beginning of the service. The songs chosen just brought me to tears.....tears of pain, but also tears of prayer - just asking that He would bring beauty from the ashes of this pain and use this situation to bring many people to Himself. 

But as the memorial service went on....it was so evident that He already had. Tiana's parents, Luke and Davi both shared in the service, and I was so impressed by their strength of faith and intentionality throughout the service. Through Tiana's short life, two nurses found spiritual life in Jesus, two people's lives were physically rescued, two people will be able to see, and many more people were brought to their knees in prayer. Truly, God is faithful to work things together for His good, and I trust He is - and will continue to be - glorified through this situation. 

My words are so inadequate to clearly explain and portray everything that has transpired the past few weeks...so let me just leave you with some of Luke and Davi's reflections from the night she passed away....

"Tiana went to be with Jesus tonight. I am so thankful for the doctors and medical staff here in China who have been incredible. Tonight, Tiana was able to give her liver to a 6 month old, and will be able to give her kidneys to a 16 year old, and her corneas will be given to two others....Today was her 7 month birthday. What a gift to be able to give to others. I'm not sugar coating it, this sucks and is ridiculously brutal and by far the hardest thing we have ever been through, but I still can't believe how good God is. He has shown his hand through all this and he will continue to as we grieve the loss of our little girl. She looked amazing tonight, we said good bye and the doctors had her looking like an angel. I said before, our hope needs to be found in Christ only. It's so cool how he has given us hope that Tiana could help 4 other kids and we have the hope and knowledge that we will see her again. We even got to hold her one last time, it was awesome. Thanks for your prayers, keep praying for the kids in surgery right now. Tiana was the first international organ donor in China and is getting the chance to help two little boys tonight in Tianjin. Pray that their bodies accept her parts and can recover. Ok, that's what's on my mind. Going to bed now."

- Luke Winger, Tiana's Dad

"Today, April 26th, at 10:16PM we said goodbye to our little princess Tiana. She's with Jesus now and I can't wait to see her again! Thank you everyone for your prayers. We've felt very supported during the whole time. Tiana was taken out of the respirator and the doctors expected her heart to stop within the next 3 minutes but it went for 6 minutes! Tiana's organs are helping four people. Right now, a 6 month old boy is receiving her liver In a couple of hours, a 16 year old boy will receive her kidneys. He's an older boy but, because of his kidney's failing, he only weighs 30 kg. Tiana's kidneys will help him grow and gain weight and the kidneys will eventually grow too.....I feel like I'm hurting for the loss of Tiana and I'm rejoicing for the blessings God is giving us. I prayed to the last minute for God to bring her back but now I know that God's plans were to take her to heaven and I'm OK with that. I trust in Him."

- Daviana Winger, Tiana's Mom

The Winger family at Tiana's memorial service with the parents of one her organ recipients.

Thank you for your continued prayers for this family and for our community here. :)