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Honduras January 2012
Baby Lya and her MomI am hungry!Nancy and her ever present Papa very happy after surgeryErnesto getting ready to go to sleep, very calmlygoing for a walk post op day 2
Here are some of the children who were cared for on the January brigade to Honduras. ICHF has helped more than 300 Honduran children over the past 4 years. We remain committed to the country until our goal of achieving a sustainable high quality program has been met.
Saving Blue Babies, Making History in Iraq
19-day-old Ridha Ali recently became the second child ever in Iraq to undergo the arterial switch operation for Transposition of the Great Arteries. Her little body was born at the perfect time and at the most ideal developmental stage to be corrected. This picture was taken the next afternoon after the surgery. This risky and complex operation involves cutting the aorta and pulmonary arteries and their positions are switched. Then the coronary arteries must be transferred back to the aorta very carefully. Ridha’s was a very successful outcome and she can look forward to long happy life without blue fingertips or struggles to breath. The first arterial switch operation was performed by Dr. Novick six months ago, also in Iraq (baby pictured 2nd).
These tender hearts inside these beautiful children and the hope they restore in their parents are the reason Dr. Novick and everyone on the medical mission team are driven to return to Iraq time and time again. They work to restore hope to a country engulfed in conflict and violence.
Only days before Dr. Novick and the ICHF team departed for Iraq there was a suicide bomber in Nasiriyah, where Dr. Novick was going to be performing surgeries, that killed 44 people. Then another bomb hit Basra, the city they flew into, that killed 53. The next day 8 died in an attack in the northern city of Mosul. The attacks in the southern part of Iraq occurred during a pilgrimage of Shiites to the holy city of Karbala. It is terribly sad as Dr. Novick and the medical staff works indefatigably to save lives while others work to destroy lives. The tremendous work of the International Children’s Heart Foundation provides new hope to a country that, if you only read the headlines, seems hopeless. New hope springs forth. This week, a new 12-day-old baby with Transposition of the Great Arteries will be arriving in Nasiriya, coming from Basra, joining these two cities together that witnessed such senseless bombings.
day 2 in Honduras
Saw another 25 patients today, have the OR and cath schedule full. Beautiful kids. Tomorrow we have three on the schedule. All VSDs, sweet kids. Early start. Stay tuned.
first day in Honduras
This is the scene when we arrived at the hospital in Tegucigalpa. So many children all of them have serious heart disease, but not all will get surgery on this trip. Many more to see tomorrow. Our first day of operating will be Monday and we have already picked out two beautiful children for surgery. Both have relatively simple defects and I will share some pictures of them when they are ready to go home. Stay tuned
ICHF going to Honduras!
Hello Blogosphere from the ICHF world headquarters in Memphis, TN!
Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Bryan Artiles, the new Fundraising/PR Coordinator for the International Children’s Heart Foundation. We have already started some new fundraising ventures and planning some new events that will raise not only money but awareness about the organization and the great work it performs all over the globe. I will be helping write the blog and tell the growing story of International Children’s Heart Foundation.
I am also excited to announce Dr. Christian Gilbert will be blogging about his trips to various countries. For the next two weeks he will be in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and will be writing about his experiences, the children receiving treatment, as well as posting pictures and videos.
Hope for Hilary in Honduras
Have you ever wondered how life would be if you changed just one moment? If it were not for Dr. Christian Gilbert, one of ICHF’s pediatric heart surgeons, and Ronaldo Roll, Director of Helping Hands for Honduras, crossing paths over 10 years ago, 195 children in Honduras may not have received life saving cardiac surgery. Below is the story of one Honduran child that has changed the fate of many.
Dr Gilbert with Hilary after surgery
Hilary was born in Guayape Olanche, a remote area of Honduras, in 2000. She was born with a complex heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF).
TOF is a complex condition consisting of four heart defects:
1. A large ventricular septal defect (VSD)
2. Pulmonary stenosis
3. Right ventricular hypertrophy
4. An overriding aorta
Together, these four defects make it difficult for enough blood to reach the lungs to receive oxygen; as a result, oxygen-poor blood flows out to the body.
Hilary and her parents leaving the hospital
When Hilary was two months old, her mother, Maritza, knew something was wrong with her new baby. She took her to a local pediatrician who detected the heart defect and told her the devastating news that Hilary would need open-heart surgery available only in the United States. If Hilary were not to receive this surgery before the age of one, she would die. Maritza was very worried. She had never heard of this condition before. She did not have the resources to travel to the U.S. There were no other options for surgical treatment in Honduras. She was desperate to help her child so she started looking for answers. She contacted a group in Honduras that sends children to Mexico; however, this entailed many visits to a local clinic with no results. In recalling the story, Hilary’s mom said, “God led me to ask for help. When a medical group led by Ronaldo came to Guayape seven months later, I asked that Hilary be examined.” Hilary was 10 months old when a medical mission group from Geisinger Hospital was in rural Honduras doing primary care. Hilary was brought to the clinic; her mother was pleading for someone to help her baby, who was quite sick and very blue at the time. One of the pediatricians on the trip, with Ronaldo’s help, contacted Dr. Gilbert by ham radio (cell phones where not available in Honduras at that time) asking him to offer assistance to the baby. Dr. Gilbert responded immediately with a “yes” and told them to get Hilary to him ASAP. Little did he know she would be the first of hundreds of Honduran children for whom he would provide surgical treatment.
When Maritza got the news that her baby would receive help, she felt tremendous relief. Ronaldo asked Maritza if she had the courage to travel to the U.S. She said she would do anything for her daughter. Arrangements were made for Hilary and her mother to travel immediately to the U.S. Two surgeries were performed during this first of two trips. The first surgery was performed on March 6th, 2001. After surgery Hilary grew very sick. She was vomiting and her nail beds turned blue. She was taken to the emergency room where Dr. Gilbert performed a second surgery. Hilary and her mother were in the U.S. for two months in total.
Hilary about to be discharged
About 4 years later Hilary and her mother returned to the U.S. for another surgery. Dr. Gilbert placed a conduit that routes blood from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery, which gives the needed blood to the lungs. They were in the U.S. for 25 days.
As a result of these contacts, a program was later started to assist many more children in Honduras. Through the efforts of Gift of Life, Helping Hands, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation, a program to perform pediatric cardiothoracic surgery and educate the local staff was started in September of 2008. Dr. Gilbert and a group of ICHF volunteers have just completed their 9thmission to Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Hilary is now 11 years old and her conduit has become obstructed. She was able to receive her fourth of what we hope is the last surgery in her own country with mother and grandmother by her side. She is doing wonderfully. Maritza talks about Hilary with tremendous joy and pride. “Hilary is an exceptional student. Her favorite subject is math. She would like to grow up to be a doctor. She is also very creative. She likes to play with dolls, apply make-up and style hair.” She goes on to say how Dr. Gilbert and Hilary have stayed in close contact over the years. Whenever Dr. Gilbert visits Honduras, Hilary and her mother come to the hospital to say hello. Dr. Gilbert is very devoted to Hilary as well. He always asks about her. It is clear that he cares for her deeply.
When asked what she thinks about Dr. Gilbert’s decision to treat Honduran children in Honduras as opposed to the U.S., Maritza says: “I think it’s much better, since more children have the opportunity to receive an operation. When children are sent to the U.S., only a few can go at one time. When Dr. Gilbert comes to Honduras, he can operate on many more. This is a tremendous service, since there are so many children in need of heart operations.” Maritza cannot find words powerful enough to express her gratitude for what Dr. Gilbert has achieved for Hilary and others. She says, “After God, Dr. Gilbert has been a salvation for my daughter. Dr. Gilbert has a very kind heart.” Ms. Castro hopes that Dr. Gilbert continues to find the necessary support to help children like Hilary.
Partnerships through a new lense …
Mary Gardella partners with ICHF !
Love Life Images, a documentary- style boutique photography studio, has become well known throughout the MD, DC, VA as the photography studio to use.
One of Mary Gardella’s New Year’s Resolutions was to create a lasting partnership within her community and beyond. She planted the seeds and she is committed to keeping her resolve.
As a newspaper photojournalist in her former life, she spent a lot of time out in the community learning about the amazing people within it. She has seen it all, good and bad. She really felt like she was part of a vast community that most people would never see face to face. She loves to learn about other people and what they are doing and how they connect with their world.
ICHF also is interested in creating lasting partnerships. So it was wonderful for us to hear from Mary Gardella, co-owner of Love Life Images photography studio and learn that we were part of her New Year’s Resolution. ICHF is the first of Mary’s 2011 partnerships! Mary says she was shocked to learn that Congenital Heart Defects affected nearly 1% of all newborns making it the world’s Number One Birth Defect. She was also happy to learn that ICHF can provide a free heart surgery to a child in a 3rdworld country for a cost of about $2,000.
The “All You Need Is Love” special is kicking off the findraising drive for ICHF. She will continue to donate a portion of any session booked thru March 31.
You can help us save a child when you book a session!
For more detailed information please contact Mary at mary@lovelifeimages.com or visit her website at www.lovelifeimages.com or call her studio at 410.491.5433
International Children’s Heart Foundation: http://www.babyheart.org/
Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
Check out this recent article which discussed ICHF’s work in Iraq. Thanks also to Preemptive Love Coalition and Living Light International for setting this all up!!!
Volunteer Stories
Volunteers Brigida and Mihoko share their journey of becoming involved with ICHF….
Brigida Martinez –
It has been a dream of mine since high school to do volunteer work in developing countries. When I became a nurse, I didn’t know that it would be a step towards that dream. In 2007, I heard about ICHF through a co-worker and friend of mine. That July I found myself in the Dominican Republic at Arturo Grullon Children’s Hospital in Santiago. I was on the same team as my co-worker. It was an amazing experience and from then on I was hooked. Working with children in this capacity is one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. These medical mission trips remind me of how strong and resilient children are, despite lacking the resources that others might have. Since 2007, the ability of the local team of nurses and doctors has improved tremendously at the facility in the Dominican Republic. Seeing this improvement has been an inspiration to improve not only my teaching skills but also my own education and development. I feel so lucky to have played a small part in this progression. I’m excited about ICHF’s plan to open a Pediatric Cardiac Care Institute at Arturo Grullon. With our help and their dedication they have opened their wings to fly.
Mihoko Sakai —
I heard about ICHF from one of my co-workers who talked very highly about this organization. I always wanted to do a mission trip but I never knew where to start looking for groups. I wanted to work with the local people more than just going into a country and fixing things, and then leaving the country. I didn’t know what to expect from ICHF either, but I wanted to give it a try.
My first trip was more than I expected. I could have not thought of a better trip. I did a lot of teaching with the local nurses and doctors like I wanted to, I learned a lot about their culture, and I loved the concept of building a program there. I want to go back and see the progress that ICHF made. The patients and families were so appreciative of this program, and it was amazing to see the kids from the past 2 years at the press conference, and see how much of a difference this program has made.
Even though there was the language barrier in taking care of these patients, I tried my best to meet the kids’ needs and be able to communicate with them. I did not understand the words, but I knew the families were appreciative with ICHF and being able to have surgery for their children.
Mihoko and Jeremy
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