Our Mission

We, the biological parents of Ricky Kobina Bortsi Wentz, were motivated to establish this charity organization because of the immense demonstration of love by Miss Tori Wentz, the adoptive mother of Ricky, towards us and our son in dealing with his multiple disabilities. Ricky was the third of our three children. About three months after his birth, his mother noticed that he did not establish eye contact when breastfeeding and did not startle to sound. He blinked only when his eyelids were touched and exhibited poor neck control. He was assessed at the Paediatric Department of the Korle bu Teaching Hospital and was diagnosed with visual impairment, hearing loss, and a severe neurological condition that slowed his development. The clinical impression was Lebers Congenital Amaurosis (LCA). DNA analysis for mutations in genes associated with Lebers Amaurosis (LCA) was performed by MEDLAB Ghana and ASPER BIOTECH Estonia and both results were entirely negative. A medical board constituted by the University of Ghana Medical School, Department of Child Health recommended further investigations into the cause of his blindness and associated developmental delays. Efua travelled with Ricky to the United States in October 2011 for further medical investigations at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) with the hope of getting enrolled in a gene therapy clinical trial to cure child blindness. On arrival, they were hosted by Mrs Mary Kwaku and her family at 1725 Memorial Avenue, PA 19104. After prolonged laboratory investigations, no mutated genes were identified, and neither did they establish medical clues for his multiple disabilities, hence he did not qualify for the study. Ricky was not on medical insurance and as a family, we had exhausted our financial resources and couldn’t afford the cost of further investigations recommended by the doctors at CHOP.

 In our moment of despair and frustration, we had an encounter with an angel and a good Samaritan called Miss Tori Wentz under circumstances that can only be described as the divine will of God. It all began when Efua relocated from Philadelphia to Virginia to live with her brother, Kow Andah, still in search of possible treatment from a less expensive medical facility. Kow’s neighbor, Sylvanus, introduced them to Pastor Larry of the Fredericksburg Baptist Church, who in turn introduced Efua to a member of the church and nurse called Miss Tori Wentz. Pastor Larry tasked her to explore possible ways of getting a doctor’s appointment and other equipment to help Ricky. After several appointments, it was realized that the only window of opportunity was through long-term therapies, but the limitation was that his visa had a few months to expire. Immigration advisors suggested that the only way for Ricky to have access to available long-term therapies was to live in America through private adoption. The decision was an emotionally difficult one for us, but we prioritized any arrangement that would guarantee Ricky’s safety and improved well-being over our emotions. After much prayer and supplication, Efua agreed that Tori should be Ricky’s adoptive mother. The legal requirements were completed for parental custody by Tori’s lawyers and soon Ricky moved in to live with Tori. 

A few weeks later, it was time for Efua to bid Ricky and his adoptive mother Tori an emotional farewell and she returned to Ghana in 2012 without Ricky. Nine months later, the final adoption order was granted, and Tori became Ricky’s mother. His surname changed from Wood to Wentz and he acquired an American passport. In 2014, Mama Tori and Ricky moved from Fredericksburg, Virginia to Knoxville, Tennessee to live with his American grandparents who showed him much care and love. Unfortunately, Grandpa Stan died in 2014, and Grandma Shirley in 2016.

For close to ten years Tori gave him the best of a mother’s love and medical attention; her love for Ricky knew no boundaries. Unfortunately, Ricky’s condition didn’t see much improvement, yet Tori never gave up. At age twelve, Ricky had had nine different surgeries and many other procedures and therapies that his medical handlers envisaged could help correct his multiple challenges. His condition took a nosedive in January 2021. He went in and out of the hospital on many occasions and was finally admitted at Hospices center at the Tennessee University Hospital till he died on the 30^th of October 2021. God’s message of love and compassion runs through Ricky’s close to thirteen years of life and this has been well captured in Tori’s yet-to-be-published book entitled “A Complicated Life Full of Love”.

Our biggest tribute to the memory of Ricky is to respond to God’s call to the ministry of charity by extending the love and compassion demonstrated by Tori to special needs children in Ghana through this organization. Conclusively, Wood and Wentz Samaritan Heart will serve as a memorial to our surviving children and unborn generation of how the Lord sent an angel our way to help us carry on during the storms of life.

We wish to express our gratitude to God for keeping this inextinguishable flame burning in our hearts since 2017 and connecting us to persons who contributed in diverse ways to the conception and birthing of this organization.

To the inaugural board, partners, donors, volunteers, and trustees we pray for God’s grace and wisdom to touch lives the “Tori way”.