Local family responds to urgent call to help orphan from China
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on March 1, 2016 1:46 PM
Full Size
Submitted photo
Tiana Wicks, 9, of Goldsboro, right, enjoys some time outside with Nan Yun Ruo "RoRo," a Chinese orphan who spent part of the recent holidays with the Wicks family.
One good deed deserves another.
When Carla Wicks responded to an urgent plea to help a Chinese orphan, she soon realized she might need some additional support.
The mother of three -- two grown sons and a 9-year-old daughter, Tiana, that she and her husband adopted from China two years ago -- has continued to work with the agency that finds families for the children.
"I'm still active in groups on Facebook," she said. "An urgent request came out that (the child's) original host family wasn't able to keep her. Her next host family had an emergency in Florida so an emergency request came out."
Her heart went out to the little one's plight, prompting Mrs. Wicks to speak with her husband.
"He agreed, with a condition -- 'only if you host and not adopt,'" she said with a laugh.
Nan Yun Ruo, 8, or "RoRo," was expected to arrive Dec. 28, but circumstances moved up the date. She showed up Christmas Eve and stayed until mid-January.
"She had been here in the U.S. for maybe a week before I got her," Mrs. Wicks said. "They usually stay for four to six weeks and then they go back to China with their chaperone.
"These are the harder to place kids, the older kids that are difficult to adopt. They're all special needs."
Mrs. Wicks quickly realized her role would be more than providing a warm place to stay and sharing her daughter's toys.
"It's up to the person they're staying with to start making phone calls, to see if doctors or a dentist could take a look at them to see if there was anything else going on with the child," she said. "I hadn't done this before so I just started making phone calls and reaching out to people.
"My kids went to Goldsboro Pediatrics so I called Dr. (Joe) Ponzi. He was all over it."
The pediatrician offered to come in on his day off and see RoRo, Mrs. Wicks said.
"He did a wonderful physical for her. Part of her file stated that she was cognitively delayed," she said.
One report indicated the child might have hearing problems. Mrs. Wicks said it went beyond that.
"Her ears were filled," she said.
Dr. Ponzi read over the report on RoRo, which said she wasn't quite where she needed to be developmentally. Hearing loss was also mentioned, compounded by the fact that she did not speak English.
But the pediatrician was able to work with the child and do a routine examination, he said.
"I made some recommendations in terms of further evaluation," he said.
For Mrs. Wicks, it was more than that, she said.
"He went out of his way (to help). He wrote up a little doctor's note that I have sent on to the agency who helped me host her so that her next family could see where she's at," she said. "He didn't even hesitate. He just went the extra mile."
The physician shrugged off any credit, calling the action a "no-brainer."
"She was caring for this child and doing a good deed," he said. "It was something that was nice to do. It was one of my days off. I said I could come in, we'll take care of it.
"She was helping the child, too. It just seemed like it was the right thing to do. It's what any pediatrician would do."
Ultimately, he said his hope is that it will benefit RoRo in the future.
"I enjoyed doing it," he said. "I hope it helps the child get adopted."
Mrs. Wicks said she has since received word that this may be the case.
"A lady is interested in adopting her," she said. "She's working toward adopting her."