Three month old Seinthia (adoptive name Marie Judy) was abandoned at Hopital St. Michele in Jacmel. She received life saving surgery for her hydrocephalus this week from Project Medishare's pediatric neurosurgery team. Photo by Jennifer Browning. Source: http://projectmedishare.wordpress.com
This past weekend marked the Mother's Day celebration for mothers in Haiti. I can think of no more fitting a story than this incredible miracle of microsurgery that came out of sheer persistence in post-earthquake Haiti.
About a month ago, I started receiving emails from Judy Hoffman, founder of Art Creation Foundation for Children with updates about an abandoned baby girl who had water on the brain. On the Project Medishare website, Jennifer Browning had this to say about it:
"At the end of April, Judy Hoffman, President of Art Creation Foundation for Children (ACFFC) visited Hopital St Michele in Jacmel to see the sister of one of the kids at the foundation who was ill. A doctor approached Judy to ask if ACFFC could help with a baby who had been abandoned there.
“ 'There was this beautiful tiny little girl lying in a crib, clean and cared for, but alone. They showed us where her head was bulging [due to hydrocephalus].'
"A Haitian doctor told Judy that he hoped ACFFC would take her because the baby was going to die and there was nothing the doctors at St. Michele could do."
Usually, the type of surgery required to relieve Marie's condition (a shunt) isn't performed in Haiti, and most children who need such a surgery can't get help and often die. Project Medishare was able to perform MICROSURGERY, no need for a shunt, and confirm with tests that so far, Marie is showing NO SIGNS of neurological damage usually created by her condition.
Judy later wrote to me that on top of this amazing event and all the incredible people who pulled together and overcame obstacles to make it happen, the students at ACFFC saw, first hand, that sometimes, when you don't take no for an answer, and you absolutely refuse to give up, miracles happen!
Please visit the Project Medishare blog to read the FULL STORY and learn about what this phenomenal group of people are doing to improve health in Haiti!
1 comment:
Thanks for re-posting this. Project Medishare's pediatric neurosurgery program is so important, especially now that we are moving more towards the training part of the program. The goal is that one day, Haiti will have their own pediatric neurosurgeons who can help these children with hydrocephalus from birth. This is one of the ways Project Medishare is working to empower the Haitian people.
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