Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Welcome Jhiny & Cristelle


Haitian Hearts ended the year by bringing two more children to the United States for heart surgery. In December, John and my dad flew to Port-au-Prince. It was a quick trip—four days. Escorting 13-year-old Jhiny and 4-year-old Cristelle to St. Louis was the main mission of the trip.

St. Louis was our most valuable city in 2007, as we brought three patients there this year. Jhiny and Cristelle will receive their medical care from Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center.

Jhiny has an ASD, an opening between the upper chambers of the heart. She will need open-heart surgery to fix this defect. Cristelle has a PDA, a defect which hopefully will be able to be repaired in the cath lab.

Both girls are staying with a wonderful host family, Jim and Jane Ebel, who also cared for Mauricio earlier in the year. Jane reports that Jhiny is a big help around the house and Cristelle gets more comfortable each day.

The girls have had new echocardiograms performed by Cardinal Glennon. They should be on the surgery schedule soon.
My dad with Jhiny and Cristelle at the airport in Port-au-Prince as they prepare to board the plane.