meet our patients

When Haitian Hearts diagnoses a person with a heart problem, they go on our waiting list. The next big task is to find a hospital willing to treat the patient. We have located hospitals for some of the patients described below. For others, we are still searching.

Mona - In the United States, children born with congenital heart defects have them repaired in infancy. This isn't the case in Haiti. Meet Mona, a 30-year-old woman with a defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Most children with this problem do not live past adolescence if it is not repaired. Mona is a lovely woman with a gentle demeanor who will live many more years if her heart is repaired.

Jessica - On his October 2009 trip, John taught a class of nurses in Les Cayes, Haiti. One day after class, one of the nurses brought in her five-year-old daughter for John to examine. He detected a heart murmur, indicating a defect, in beautiful Jessica's heart. Jessica is our most recent addition to our list of waiting patients.

Widerlande - We first met Widerlande almost five years ago. Her mother brought her to a clinic where John was working and an echocardiogram revealed that she had a heart defect. Widerlande's family lives in a rural part of Haiti, where doctors and clinics are rare. However, this challenge has not kept her mother from obtaining medical care for her daughter, even when it means traveling great distances. Today, Widerlande's case is under review by a medical center in Sacramento, California.

Medjina - Many Haitians and Americans working in Haiti know of Haitian Hearts and often bring us patients. Such was the case with Medjina, a seven-year-old girl with a damaged heart valve. She was introduced to us by our friends who run an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. Medjina was recently accepted for surgery by St. Louis Children's Hospital. We are currently in the process of doing the visa and other paperwork necessary to bring her to the United States.