Clairia: the final step

     There have been many patients at the clinic that we have been unable to help. Today I bring you word about a patient that we did help. Her name is Clairia, and most of you know her well. She is the 19 month old, little girl with congenital heart disease. It is through your efforts that today’s news was made possible. It is thanks to you that Clairia was given a new life today.

     My last communication to you was several weeks ago, when I was still in Kigutu. It was then that I made an appeal to all of you for to raise the additional funds needed to make Clairia’s surgery possible. My appeal was met by an overwhelming response: more than $6,000 (more than enough) was raised in less than 48 hours. I want to say personally that I was brought to tears by that response, for your generosity insured that the final step could be taken. It was now possible that Clairia and her mother could go to Israel.

     Anat Rosenthal is our contact in Israel. It was she who initiated contact with Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) in Israel. It is through SACH that Clairia would have her surgery. This is the e-mail she sent out approximately ten days ago.

    

“I talked with Sarah from SACH this morning. Clairia and her mother arrived safely early this morning and had a few hours to rest at the house. Today they're at the hospital for a very intensive day of tests and assessments. If all goes well I'll be at the SACH house tomorrow morning to visit Clairia and Francine.”

     You see below pictures of Clairia and her mother at the Bujumbura airport. You may not be able to see Clairia, because she was asleep African-style (on her mother’s back) the whole time at the airport. What you can see are Clairia’s little feet sticking out from around her mother’s back.

            

You will now see pictures of Clairia and her mother at the SACH house in Israel.

    

And now, finally, after more than a year of waiting, a year of concentrated effort by many people, a year in which a personal tragedy for Clairia’s mother will bring salvation for her daughter, Clairia: this e-mail from Anat in Israel:   

Hi all,

Clairia's surgery went very well, and she is currently in the pediatric ICU. If all goes well they will wake her up and extubate tomorrow morning. Francine will spend the night in a room next to the ICU. A SACH nurse from Zanzibar named Asma will be at the ICU tomorrow to care for another child, and will be able to support Francine if necessary.

It's been a long day, and I wanted to thank you all for your help and support (especially Gerard who had the patience to translate over the phone!).

I guess it's true what they say - Where there is health, there is hope :-

     None of you who read this, none of you who have contributed to this cause should underestimate what you have done. You have saved a life. A child who would have died before her twentieth birthday, a child who would have had to suffer through a lifetime of increasing heart failure can now lead a normal life. What you have accomplished is no small feat. What all of us working together for a common cause have accomplished is no small feat. To put that accomplishment in perspective, I enclose a last e-mail from Lisha McCormick, Director of Development at Village Health Works (as well as a good friend of mine):

“I was speaking to a group of students the other day, one of whom was about 19 and relayed that he wanted to be a pediatrician. I asked him why he was drawn to that particular specialty and he relayed a really touching story about the impact physicians had on him when he was a young child suffering from chronic asthma. And then he added..."Plus, when you save a life...its a whole life."

I can't help but recall this when I think of Clairia. While I know it is a bit dramatic, I picture her as a five-year old running to play with other children, I picture her on her wedding day and then one day having a child of her own, both of them living in a Burundi that has grown better over the next two decades.

Certainly, Clairia has a long way to go still...but today you should shed a tear, and then smile and know that you've saved a life....a WHOLE life...”