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Successfull Heart Surgery By Annan Boodram |
Springfield, Illinois, July 2002: Luricia Tobin underwent surgert on Tuesday July 2nd. She came through fine.
This five year old Guyanese lass had been found to have a heart so enlarged that one could have seen it beat through her chest wall.
When Luricia's condition was first brought to their attention doctors in Guyana misdiagnosed her shortness of breath as asthma. In fact, she had a leaky mitral valve. As a result, when one chamber of her heart contracts, blood that was supposed to go into the aorta and out to the rest of her body leaked back into the chamber. The technical name for this is "regurgitation."
The seven hour surgery, performed by Dr. Eric Mendelhoff at the St. Louis Children's Hospital in Illinois repaired the valve and Luricia is expected to fully recover according to Andy Boosinger.
Andy Boosinger, ia a medical missionary from the Springfield area of Illinois, who first went to Guyana, as a nuring student in 1998. He lived in Georgetown for three years. Since his return to the US in 2000 he has made eight trips back to Guyana. While there Andy and his team built the Hope Orphanage- named after his daughter - started a program to seek medical assistance for Guyanese who could not be treated in Guyana.
In Luricia's case Andy consulted an Illinois doctor, pediatric heart specialist Patricia Von Behren. From his e-mail description, she suggested that he arrange for Luricia, 5, to get a specialized ultrasound test called an echocardiogram.
Doctors in Trinidad and Tobago discovered the heart valve problem but said repairing it was beyond their abilities. So Boosinger and his wife, Alison, arranged for Luricia and her mother, Sylvia, to fly to the United States for surgery to
repair
the valve. Dr. Eric Mendelhoff placed a ring in the area of the
mitral valve, then sewed the flaps of the valve it to strengthen
them and stop the back flow of blood. Von Behren said the surgery should restore the child's heart to normal functioning. Eventually, she said, Luricia's heart should shrink to a normal size for her age.Sylvia
According to Andy, Luricia should recuperate enough to return to Guyana by mid August. Meanwhile she and her mother, Sylvia Tobin, are staying with Andy's sister-in-law, Dawn Winder.
Andy indicated that the family will need some $1500 to completely cover their expenses (surgery and accommodation are free) and "a couple of hundred dollars a year to take care of medication'. Anyone interested in helping pay should send checks to the Kemp Church of Christ, 132 W. Kemp St., Arcola, IL 61910. In the note section in the lower left-hand corner of the checks, write "Guyana Medical Mission" or "Luricia."
Andy also revealed that they currently have eight pediatric cases under consideration for medical treatment and one child, born with AIDS, who is a program in Chicago. Anyone wanting to help with any of these children can contact Andy at 217-636-9986.