Sophonise--July 2019
Sophonise 2019
Should I get on the plane with this little baby or not? I am in Port-au-Prince with 18-month-old Sophonise and five other Haitian children–all with a potpourri of heart problems. And I am afraid. I want all of them to survive the 90-minute plane ride at 39,000 feet to Miami. But I am most concerned about Sophonise.
Those were my thoughts and sentiments in 2003 at the Haitian airport. All of the kids had been accepted by two pediatric medical centers in south Florida. And all of them needed heart surgery.
During the preceding months in Haiti, I had examined Sophonise and explained to her father and her father’s sister the seriousness of Sophonise’s heart condition. (Sophonise’s mother was dead.) I had tried to get Sophonise accepted into a hospital in Cuba for heart surgery but was unsuccessful. But then the medical centers in Florida accepted Sophonise and the other five kids— we were so fortunate. Sophonise’s father listened carefully and agreed for her to have surgery in the United States.
At the airport I was worried whether Sophonise could tolerate the plane ride. She had complex congenital heart disease (Tetralogy of Fallot with hypoplastic pulmonary arteries) which made her blue…and any crying on her part only plunged her oxygen to lower critical levels. But I knew she needed to get out of Haiti and have her little heart operated as soon possible. If I backed out then I didn’t think she would get another chance.
While sitting at the gate with five kids surrounding me and Sophonise in my lap, a small group of Americans walked up to me. I had met them in Haiti and they were headed to Miami also. And an angel lady in the group asked me if I wanted her to hold Sophonise on the plane ride to Miami. I immediately jumped at the chance and explained to her Sophonise’s condition and why crying was a bad thing. She understood completely and took the baby from me. Sophonise seemed to be quite comfortable in her arms.
So we all got on the plane and I got to tend to the other five kids who seemed to be having a fine time. And the lady held Sophonise a few rows back.
Well, the flight went fine. Sophonise slept much of the flight, thank God. We landed in Miami and Sophonise and the other children seemed no worse for the wear. We herded the six kids though US customs successfully as the customs officer reviewed all of their passports and visas and smiled while he said “good luck.”
So this was all good news. The bad news was that the nice lady and her group were going to a different gate for their connecting flight than I was with the six kids. And Sophonise would have to be carried by me to our final destination. I was very grateful for their help and I reluctantly said goodbye.
After I made it to our connecting gate with the kids, I sat down with Sophonise and took her pulse. It was 160/min. But she was not overly blue and seemed pretty comfortable and was taking some formula quite well. On other trips to Miami from Haiti, I had taken children straight off the plane to Miami Children’s Hospital because the kids looked so bad when we landed. And at times the kids ended up in the intensive care unit. But with Sophonise I decided to press forward to our next destination which was an hour away. So we all boarded the plane again.
Sophonise did not get stressed and did very well during this flight also. I don’t remember her crying. I thanked God repeatedly for her stable condition when we touched down.
At the airport hospital representatives, a pediatric cardiology nurse practitioner, and six host families were there to meet us. I had never met any of this large diverse group including the host parents and so it was quite a happy experience in the airport gathering the kids and luggage and reassessing the kids to see if any of them needed to go to the ER that night after the flight. After determining that they all looked pretty decent, including Sophonise, I explained to each host family what was wrong with their “new Haitian child.” Many phone numbers and addresses were exchanged. I explained to Sophonises’s host family the severity of her problems and they understood. With all the kids accounted for, we all headed out of the airport.
I stayed with one of the host families for the next two weeks as the surgeries were done. I was present for each of the six surgeries and all went well. Including Sophonise’s surgery.
——–
Sixteen years have passed and Sophonise is now almost 17 years old. I never returned her to Haiti due to the fact that she needed more heart surgery with close followup. Her Haitian father agreed. Her visa was extended here in the United States.
An incredible Haitian-American lady named Claire in Florida accepted Sophonise in her home and took care of her. And she kept in touch with Sophonise’s father on the phone and even traveled to Haiti in the mid-2000s to meet with him in Port-au-Prince. He agreed that Claire should adopt Sophonise because he obviously could not provide her with the medical care she needed in Haiti.
Unfortunately, after January 12, 2010–the day the Haitian earthquake killed several hundred thousand people in less than a minute–Claire lost touch with Sophonise’s father. He no longer answered his phone when Claire would call. Claire even flew from Haiti to Port-au-Prince and went to his neighborhood in search of him. None of the neighbors even knew who he was or whether he survived the quake. Sophonise’s father seemed to have disappeared. (During the years after the quake, many people in Haiti told me almost the same thing. Their family members just never returned home after the “goudougoudou”. They had disappeared, too.)
Sophonise was declared an abandoned child after the earthquake which allowed Claire to formally adopt Sophonise.
Sophonise is now a senior in high school in Florida. She is doing very well and her heart health is stable.
I don’t have the proper words
of appreciation to express my love for the people who have sustained Sophonise. I dedicate this little post to Claire and the entire medical community in south Florida who gave Sophonise the chance she needed.
John A. Carroll, MD
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