By Leila Hawken | Development, Surgeons of Hope
A wonderful story grew out of the August surgical training mission which brouht a team from Colombia, South America. The team of more than a dozen specialists was headed bythe chief pediatric surgeon from the noted children's hospital in Bogota. Along on the trip and a gifted heart doctor was a member of the board of Surgeons of Hope. In a recent conversation, our board member confirmed that the details which follow are accurate.
While the Colombian team was conducting scheduled complex surgeries at our new Pediatric Heart Center in Managua, Nicaragua, a newborn baby in his first hours of life was struggling to breathe, having come into the world in a hospital on the other sie of Managua. The baby was what we call a "blue baby"--not enough oxygen was reaching his blood, a somewhat common occurence that can be dealt with in the U.S. and Europe, but not so possible in the less-advantaged countries of Latin America. Someone at the birth hospital remembered hearing that the Colombian team was visiting our Heart Center (just the thing our new Heart Center can offer), and so the baby was bundled up and rushed by car to La Mascota Children's Hospital. Our Heart Center is located just across the parking lot from La Mascota. So, the tiny infant was hand-carried across the very hot parking lot to the Heart Center, where Dr. Brochet's team went to work immediately, including this additional operation into a schedule already filled by two other surgeries. After some hours of surgery, the little newborn heart (the size of a walnut) was repaired, and although the baby spent his first night in the ICU and had a few recovery adventures, Expert cardiac care brought the dawn of the next day, and the little one was recovering nicely by morning. The baby continued to strengthen and thrive, and is now at home leading the normal life of a newborn infant. We are gratified that the original team on the other side of the city knew that an expert team was visiting, and they took action. One can imagine the relief, joy, and gratitude filling the hearts of the baby's parents.
This true story dramatizes the profound difference that Surgeons of Hope, in partnership with our loyal Global Giving donors, has made in Nicaragua. Understand that we cannot do it without you.
On Wednesday, September 21, there is a Global Giving matching day between 6:00 am and midnight, eastern time. If hyou give a donation of any size on that day, your dollars to be matched and go even further to help our volunteer medical professionals to do what they do best. They have so many examples of little lives saved, because of the help we get from our Global Giving donors who continue to care out Surgeons of Hope.
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