Nigerian boy, 2, saved by New Orleans heart surgery charity

Two-year-old Praise from Nigeria has a new life ahead of him after the New Orleans chapter of HeartGift, a nonprofit charity, has organized and funded his travel, heart surgery and recovery, ultimately saving his life.

Praise, and his mother Philomena, who did not give their full names, journeyed from their small village over 6,000 miles away in Nigeria to come to New Orleans recently in hopes of saving Praise's life.
Philomena, tearful and in halting English, related the struggle she faced, first finding out that the hospital in Nigeria was not capable of mending the small hole in Praise's heart from a congenital heart defect, then realizing, "We had to raise money up for the surgery because it is not done in Nigeria. We were like, 'We don't have money. How can we go through this?'"
Nigeria is one of many third world countries that does not have the resources or facilities to perform even basic heart surgeries. HeartGift works with these countries exclusively.
This year, HeartGift in New Orleans will sponsor the surgeries of seven children who do not have the available medical care for cardiovascular surgeries relating to pediatric birth defects.
"These aren't small surgeries," said Claire Koch, chairperson of the New Orleans Chapter of HeartGift.
"While these surgeries are done every day here, there are many risks, and being in a hospital in the United States, there are safety nets in place if something should go terribly wrong during a surgery."
Koch said HeartGift was started in 2000 by a cardiologist from Texas who went to a third world country on vacation and saw a child with a relatively simple solution to a heart problem. The doctor wondered why they couldn't just bring the child back to the Untied States and repair the heart. So they did.
"He thought this is easy, why aren't we doing more of this? Then they set up the organization," Koch said. It was founded in Austin, Texas, and then expanded to New Orleans, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Koch has a personal connection to the cause: Her daughter was diagnosed with a severe congenital heart defect when she was born. She underwent surgery for tetralogy of fallot when she was 4 months old. The Koch family's medical bills reached over $300,000, she said.
HeartGift circumvents high costs in a variety of ways. First, the surgeons and the anesthesiologists all donate their time. HeartGift brings the child and a guardian to the United States, housing them with a host family for a few weeks while they wait for an open surgery slot. This means that they are in a holding pattern until another scheduled surgery is canceled for some reason.
HeartGift slips into that prearranged spot, cutting costs significantly. "With everyone involved donating their time, we end up paying about $25,000 per child for both the surgery and the trip," said Koch. HeartGift is constantly raising funds through donations, an annual golf tournament, and other events.
These many complex logistics are where executive director of the New Orleans chapter, Stephanie Berault, comes in. Berault has been with HeartGift for six years, and compiles the necessary information on various cases all over the world for a medical selection committee's review. Children have come from Kosova, Ghana, El Salvador and more for surgery here.
"Once selected, I help coordinate logistics -- the travel plans, finding a host family to stay with while they are in the United States, and everything necessary for the surgeries," she said.
Koch and Berault work with various non-governmental aid organizations to choose cases like Praise. Praise under went surgery in late January and recuperated for over a month with the Morrisons, a host family from Slidell. Jackie and Robert Morrison met Berault through Jackie's work and were extremely moved by her speech after Jackie had invited her to speak at their church.
Berault endeavors to find host families that are as culturally similar to the child's family as possible, so they are as comfortable in a foreign place as they can be. Jackie, an immigrant from Brazil, was particularly willing to host a HeartGift family. After hearing Berault speak, Jackie said she, "gave her my address and made plans with her because I want to host a baby. I didn't know it was Praise, but we are completely in love with that family."
On one of the last days before Praise and Philomena left to go back to Nigeria last month, the Morrisons gave the excited boy a going-away party.
Neighbors joined in with their children and Jackie's daughter and granddaughter also attended. The granddaughter, Bella, is the same age as Praise and the two have often played together.
"When I come home, she has beautiful smiles, I say 'Hi Mom' to Philomena and she says, 'Hi Mom' and he (Praise) calls me Mommy," Jackie said.
"When I open the door he is running and he gives me hug around my legs and a kiss. They have changed my family too."
At the party last month, Philomena repeated over and over how grateful she is for the surgery, which was successfully completed at Children's Hospital New Orleans.
"We are very grateful to God for this, we were not expecting it and we waited for a very long time, he was struggling for years. But God be the glory for HeartGift Foundation. They came to our rescue for saving his life."
This week HeartGift representatives and another family from New Orleans will be meeting a child from the Philippines who will get heart surgery later this month.