For over 40 years, the Gift of Life Belize, a non profit organization has been working to assist Belizean families with children who have congenital heart defects.
This week The Gift of Life managed to help two families with young boys receive life changing heart procedures at the KHMH, done by foreign specialists. Jomarie Lanza sports.
As the minutes tick by and the sound of the beeping monitors fill the KHMH Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, diligent hands are at work in the operating room, as another young heart patient is being worked on.
But this is no open heart surgery, instead it's a much smaller yet delicate procedure that could change this child's life forever. Today that baby is Patricia Clark's 5 year old son Aroldo, a "Tetralogy of Fallot" patient, who managed to get the surgery he needed through The Gift of Life Belize organization. Clark's son started seeing cardiologists since he was only 5 months old, and the family continues to remain hopeful that their baby's condition will continue to improve with each critical procedure
Patricia Clark, Mother Heart Patient
"Through the programme gift of life they managed to send us to Cayman where he had the open heart surgery. A complicated open heart surgery, but from there thanks to God he has been doing good, until today there are still other procedures that he needs to do because at that time he was like 5 months old and from there on he's been good but we still have had the medical attention with the Doctors that gift of life being every six months the American Doctors there they follow up on my baby."
"It's been very hard, very hard and very difficult you know for me as a mom to see my child but I have always been very positive, very positive attitude that even if it is the most difficult procedure in the world that they have to do I have faith that he will be good."
But what was the first sign of Aroldo's condition? His mother says she first noticed it when her son began turning blue as a baby
Patricia Clark, Mother Heart Patient
"His breathing, it was difficult for him to breathe and I saw that around his mouth it was blue, his fingers was blue and they called him, babies with this condition I heard them call them the blue babies because when they cry they turn blue like bluish color."
"We went to Cayman for open heart surgery and it was done 1 in the morning but things got complicated so he had another one at around midnight. Another complicated one that lasted almost 8 hours."
"What happened is that since that procedure he has a little valve and they explained to me that it created like a scar so the space got very small so they have, and that caused him to have pressure in his heart so now they have to open it and they are using like a balloon to help open the space that is narrow and that is what they are doing here through the catheterization that's the procedure that they are doing right now."
The gift of life Belize has helped to facilitate medical care for over three dozen families in Belize whose children are born with heart defects. They work closely with the KHMH, and visiting medical professionals who perform these procedures. Earlier in the week, Pediatric Cardiologist Elsa Suh had worked on a 9 year old boy who was diagnosed with an Atrial Septal Defect.
Suh, alongside her colleague Heidi Hess, a Cardiac Nurse Practitioner, have been working together for the past 25 years in the operating room.
Dr Elsa Suh, Pediatric Cardiologist
"In olden days children with holes in their hearts like Atrial Septal Defect like what Penner had it required an open heart surgery but since the advancement in technology we've been able to close these defects in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory through A Cath method without doing any open heart surgery so he was born with a hole in the upper chamber of the heart he was nine years of age when we Intervened and we were able to close this Atrial Septal Defect with a device without undergoing cardiac surgery so the recovery is much faster obviously they don't require any chest tube after the procedure. And usually within 24 hours they are able to go home which he did."
"He was unfortunately born with a cyanotic heart defect and he's original surgery was done in Cayman island and unfortunately he had a complicated postoperative core so they had to redo the operation that part of the redo the operation. So he may need to have a stent placed in to keep it in open position."
Hess has been in Belize seeing Cardiac patients since the early 2000. She says the most fulfilling part of the job is seeing her patients go on to live normal healthy lives.
Heidi Hess, Cardiac Nurse Practitioner
"For me the biggest reward is over the years coming here and treating children when I meet them as a newborn and now 20 years later I see them back for check ups and they are coming with their own newborns so to be able to see these kids grow up and become adults they have gone through school and year after year they bring me their report cards and tell me about their success and their brother and sisters this is the reward seeing these children grow up and bloom and do so well."
Those who wish to assist or reach out to The Gift of life and it's organization can find them on Facebook or can contact them at 610-3890.
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