Widnerlande

 

Monday, December 06, 2010

Widnerlande

 

Please meet Widnerlande.

I will refer to her as W in this post.  

W is six years old and Haitian Hearts is taking her to California next week for heart surgery.

Maria and I first "discovered" her when she was a baby six years ago at a pediatric clinic in Laplaine. She had a loud heart murmur and a subsequent echocardiogram revealed a ventricular septal defect (VSD) which is a hole between the lower chambers of her heart. This hole allows blood to flow the wrong way with each heartbeat and over time this is very hard on the heart and lungs.

VSD's are the most common congenital heart defect.

Maria has a friend in California and they were able to and find a pediatric heart surgeon and medical center in California to operate W.

W lives in Mirebalais in the Artibonite with her mother. W has five brothers and sisters. And all of them, including Widnerlande, have spent some of their lives living in orphanages. 

On January 12 the earthquake knocked over W's house in Mirebalais, so her mom and grandfather built a small room out of rocks. W lives in this room with her two remaining siblings and her mother and grandfather. They have a dirt floor, no water, and no electricity.

W appears quite good for what she has gone through. She is very playful and seems quite intelligent. However, her hair has an orange tint which is evidence of protein malnutrition. Her mother cannot afford meat and eggs for W.

I asked her mother yesterday if she had W's vaccination card. Mother said it was lost several years ago during the hurricane season when four tropical storms flooded her home and washed away the card.