The Joy of Surgeries --The Continuing Work to help Children with CHD

Nothing can give more joy than seeing children smile and play and enjoy their childhood .So, this week end ( Jan 12^th ),  few of us who  visited kids recovering post, their surgeries and also had interacted with them and with their parents – the time that we spent , was a joy behold. We continue these visits on a frequent basis , just to connect with the kids, their families and understand what better we can do.

The Little Hearts Project spearheaded by Rotary and supported by Ford , continues to save lives of kids suffering from Congenital Heart Disease ( CHD ). Dr Prashant Shah and his team at the Soorya hospital continue their untiring efforts to save and give life back to these kids. Post the surgeries , the good news is that  the kids live a very normal life and enjoy their childhood , go to school and play .

During this visit , we had the joy of interacting with four of the children and their parents –

The first one Ms Senthamiz from Villipuram was in the ICU , just a day had elapsed since her surgery – She was doing well – Her parents interacted with us and thanked  for the help . We also interacted with the ICU doctor who explained the surgery and the recovery process.

The second child was Alwin , who was waiting to get discharged . Alwin is in his 9^th standard . loves football , idolizes Messi and wants to be a Policeman. He had been living with the problem for the past three years and the camps conducted by the hospital helped them to reach out and get the surgery done – They thanked as well and said they did not spend a rupee on the surgery. Alwin’s father is a auto driver and they belong to Tuticorn

The third kid was Varshan who will celebrate his first birthday on Jan 27^th—Hailing from Kumbakonam , he was diagnosed on his birth and with proper guidance got to Dr Prashant , who had he surgery done . Varshan looked very calm and active although he just had the major surgery just two days back. Varshan’s father works in a retail shop

The fourth one was Velan – a three half year old, who had come back to fix his pacemaker – He was very active and engaged everyone. The moment , he got his school  backpack bag  ( every kid gets this on discharge ), he wore it and started going around the room – Joy to see him running around and making everyone nervous but happy

It was a lovely but short period of time spent with these kids and their parents and priceless.

Just some powerful takeaways from the visit

1.      The project helps out kids and those that cannot afford the treatment

2.      Kids that undergo surgery , get back to normal life and get to school – This is just brilliant --

3.      Span of the Project  geographically is spreading out slowly and that is again a success – Reaching out to more that need the surgery and in remote areas is essential

4.      Time spent with these kids is priceless and joyful and fulfilling , keeps giving joy to the Children that suffer from CHD

5.      This project is so impactful and all thanks to Dr Prashant ,for his single minded initiative to make the kids get their life

See the article published in the Rotary Magazine

https://rotarynewsonline.org/rc-madras-south-finds-an-angel-crusader-for-its-paediatric-project/