New Zealand ROMAC volunteers welcomed babies Michael and Ellaniesalyna (pictured above with their mothers on arrival at Auckland).
Michael and his mother are hosted by North Shore Rotary and Ellaniesalyna and her mother by Downtown Rotary.
Fifteen-month-old Michael Rahurou (15 months old) has had initial medical appointments including an assessment at the Pediatric Cardiology registrar at Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital.
He has a large ventricular septal defect (VSD), a hole in the wall separating the heart’s lower chambers, which an allow oxygen-rich blood to flow back into the lungs instead of out to the body. This is complicated by Down syndrome, a genetic disorder which leads to developmental delays.
Michael has also had an ECG, chest X-ray, echo-cardiogram and blood tests and is now waiting for a date for an operation to correct the VSD.
Ellaniesalyna, also 15 months old, is a complex cardiac patient with heterotaxy, an abnormal arrangement of the internal organs inside the chest and abdomen along the left-right body axis.
She also has a common atrium, a rare heart defect where the wall between the upper heart chambers is completely missing.
Ellani has had all appointments including the initial assessment with the Pediatric Cardiology registrar, CT scan, ECG, chest X-ray, echo-cardiogram, ECG and blood tests.
She was admitted to Starship after the CT scan as her oxygen and heart rate dropped alarmingly. She is currently on oxygen and being fully monitored.
For three-year-old Armandinho Junior from Timor Leste, medical reviews in Darwin have delivered the best news a family can hope for.
Mothers of patients from two different countries met recently as one headed home through Brisbane Airport following treatment.
After five weeks in Sydney, we recently said goodbye to Vanessa and her dad Ino as they began their journey home to Timor-Leste.
Any donation you can make will help make treatment like this possible.
