Myrtle Beach family raising money to build hospital in adoptive son’s village

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - A Myrtle Beach couple hopped on a plane to Africa Tuesday in hopes of getting the ball rolling on building a hospital in their adoptive son’s small village.

Lori and Bobby Coles are going with Touching Lives Ministry, founded by Bobby’s sister, to meet with regional medical professionals about building a medical center in Sanjweru, Kenya.

Sanjweru is the village where the couple’s son, Michael Coles, first met Brian Wasonga in 2015 while on a mission trip with TLM.

Wasonga was 17 years old at the time and battling a debilitating and life-threatening leg injury.

After several failed surgeries and a lack of medical help in the village, the Coles family and TLM helped Wasonga get a medical visa to come to Myrtle Beach for lifesaving treatment.

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After just a matter of months in Myrtle Beach, doctors told Wasonga that the infection in his knee was gone, and he was able to go back to his home country.

Now, the Coles are asking for your help to build a $300,000 hospital for the small village so no one else has to go through the same thing.

“Our hope for the hospital is that someone like Brian and many other diseases never have to come here and go through what Brian went through because the healing would be right there in the village,” Bobby said.

They set up a fundraiser called the Miracle of a Dollar, believing if everyone donated just $1 towards the hospital, the impact would be life-changing.

“You gotta understand how difficult it is and what a miracle and what it would mean for this hospital to be built,” Bobby said. “It would save hundreds and thousands of lives over the next how many ever years to come.”

Bobby said Wasonga lost three of his brothers to disease without proper treatment.

He said they’ve raised a little more than $4,000 so far, and you can help make a difference and donate directly to the SanJweru Medical Center Construction fund by clicking here.

You can also learn more about Touching Lives Ministries by visiting their website.

Bobby said Wasonga is 26 and now in school, learning to become a doctor, with dreams of working in the hospital they hope to build.

Wasonga will also be making his way back to Myrtle Beach in June to hopefully have a knee replacement surgery.

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