This Greenboro girl wants to be reunited with her sister — but she’s a world away

GREENSBORO — Mackenzie Jarvis has maybe a few years left to enjoy life on Earth as she waits for a reunion with a literal part of herself, trapped a world away.

Adopted by Angel and Jeff Jarvis from an orphanage in China's Guangdong Province six years ago, Mackenzie lives in a house here filled with symbols of her homeland. Brightly-colored educational toys chime out songs in Mandarin. Dolls share her Asian facial features. Even a tiny purse is festooned with a dragon for Chinese New Year.

"We try to honor Mackenzie's culture, surround her with things that are familiar to her from China,'' said her mom, who, on a daily basis, practices Chinese phrases to better connect with Mackenzie through the 12-year-old's first language.

But the most important connection Jarvis hopes to restore to Mackenzie's life appeared to the mom in a photograph several years ago, she explains, fighting back emotion.

Once home and settling into life in North Carolina with Mackenzie during 2018, "I was looking at pictures of other kids (in the Chinese orphanage) and kept noticing another little girl who looked just like Mackenzie,'' Jarvis recalled.

She asked orphanage officials if the little girl — seen in some photos holding hands with Mackenzie — might be her sister? Even a twin?

"These two kids have to be related,'' Jarvis said she related to her U.S.-born advocate in Guangdong.

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But orphanage administrators said the girls were not related.

Their rationale: They had been brought to the orphanage separately, some two months apart, they told Jarvis.

A powerhouse mother whose kindness is matched, act for act, by her tenacity, Jarvis could not ignore her hunch, though. She felt a pull to connect the children and by 2019, she and her husband began the process of adopting little Mei Lyn.

With the help of her advocate in China, Jarvis convinced orphanage administrators to allow Mei Lyn to undergo DNA testing to see if she was indeed related to Mackenzie.

Envelopes from China and Greensboro containing genetic samples from both girls were mailed to a laboratory in New Mexico.

"Their DNA came back as 100%'' the same, Jarvis said. "It's amazing. They share everything.''

But sharing an identical genetic map, means the girls face one troubling commonality — a rare genetic mutation known as SCN8A, Jarvis said.

"Children with this mutation have a very short life expectancy,'' said Jarvis, who has memorized the medical terminology required to navigate the disorder with Mackenzie and her many doctors.

Mei Lyn, however, does not have the same access to specialized medical treatment that could prolong her life, Jarvis said. And her health could diminish dramatically within a year's time.

The mutation means that Mackenzie and Mei Lyn are nonverbal youngsters. They can understand language in most cases, but have trouble expressing their thoughts and emotions through words, Jarvis explained.

Mutations in the SCN8A gene can further cause myriad neurological problems, including epilepsy, developmental delays and cognitive impairment.

Knowledge of the girls' limited time brings a kind of panic that is tempered only by prayer, Jarvis said.

Complicating matters, earlier this month the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced the country has officially banned foreign adoptions of its children after 30 years of the practice. Over the decades, about 160,000 were adopted from China, where a one-child policy was long enforced. More than half of those children went to families in the U.S.

The dramatic policy shift came as China has seen a decline in population, leaving hundreds of U.S. families in limbo. Many who are in the middle of adoption proceedings are stymied and devastated.

Angel and Jeff Jarvis are among them.

"(The Chinese government) gave us approval. Everything was moving along, and we should have had Mei Lyn home by July or August of 2020. But COVID came and slapped us upside the head'' causing more delays, Angel said.

Now the policy change has put a stop to everything — but the Jarvis family's hope.

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That hope and anticipation is illustrated twice over everywhere you look in the Jarvis universe.

"I buy two of everything so Mei Lyn knows she is our little girl,'' said Angel, noting a special doll that looks like Mei Lyn awaits her.

Jarvis talks with Mackenzie about her sister every day and they write letters and send trinkets to Mei Lyn, too. "Recently I had to tell Mackenzie that it's very likely her sister is gonna have to stay in China. She started to cry.''

From what Jarvis has learned from the orphanage, the twins had a few years together there, both housed on the facility's medical floor due to their disabilities.

"There are photos of them playing together ... holding hands,'' Jarvis said. "They are not guaranteed tomorrow. I want them to have as much time together as possible.''

Meanwhile, life for Mackenzie continues with much enrichment. Her closet is full of exquisite traditional Chinese dresses to wear and the couple makes two trips per week to Kernersville's China Garden restaurant where Mackenzie is treated like family by the owners who speak to the child in her native tongue.

A happy child, Mackenzie is highly social, her mom says. "She loves people and being outside.''

A favorite weekly activity is equine therapy at HorsePower Therapeutic Learning Center in High Point where Mackenzie saddles up on "Marigold,'' a gentle beast who doesn't mind her bouncing on the saddle, Jarvis said.

A seemingly tireless Jarvis and her husband, who travels often as a pilot for NetJet, stay close to Mackenzie, realizing she may have medical needs in the night.

A king-size bed makes it possible for Angel to sleep at the foot of Mackenzie's bed where she can monitor her child's sleep apnea, a problem that stems from her genetic syndrome and often robs her of vital REM sleep.

For now, "I'm hanging on by a thread'' waiting for Mei Lyn, admitted Jarvis. She hopes the U.S. State Department can find a way to help parents finalize their adoptions.

"I want to hold Mei Lyn's hand, to share what God can do. I want to hold her earthly hand, to see her. But if I can't, I know I'll see her in heaven.''