Yveline

 

Yveline

Twenty years ago, she was a baby. And a scary baby, at that. 

Yveline had a hole between the lower chambers of her heart which allowed too much blood to circulate with each heartbeat. And this caused her to be in congestive heart failure.

Yveline was very weak due to her heart and she weighed next to nothing because her heart was consuming so many calories. Her Haitian mother in Haiti had kept her alive for 11 months by letting her breastfeed as often and as long as Yveline could. However, I was unable to bring Yveline's mom with her to Peoria and so we had to keep her alive any way we could. 

When we landed in Miami with Yveline, she was not looking good at all. So I called 911 from Immigration in Miami, and the paramedics came quickly and took us to Miami Children's. Yveline was evaluated in the ER and subsequently admitted to the Pediatric CardioVascular Intensive Care Unit. 

After several days in Intensive Care, she was discharged, and we resumed our journey to Peoria. 

In Peoria, I used to sleep in my bed and put Yveline on the floor next to me to keep an eye on her during the night.  And when I wore out, my brother and sister in law, Tom and Diane Carroll and their family, took her to "spread the happiness" in taking care of another very sick Haitian Hearts patient prior to heart surgery. 

Yveline was operated and the hole in her heart successfully closed. And she became a much less scary baby as her congestive heart failure disappeared. 

Yveline is now a nursing student in Haiti. 

Comments-- 

• In 2000, one of Yveline's host moms from Peoria accompanied me back to Haiti when we returned Yveline to her Haitian mom. The host mom was appalled and tearful at Yveline's family's living conditions in Port au Prince, but she was happy that Yveline was back with her mother. 

• When I recently sent the above baby picture of Yveline to Yveline, she texted me back and asked if the baby was her. 

• Bringing Haitian babies and children to Peoria for heart surgery was very very stressful for so many reasons. And after Yveline things got worse.