Never Letting go of the Gift of Life  

Every year, doctors from various parts of The U.S. travel to Belize to provide life-saving corrective surgeries for young cardiac patients. The initiative is facilitated through the Rotary Club and has been saving lives in the country for decades. Today, we stopped by the Lion’s Club in Belize City where the Gift of Life clinic was being hosted. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

To be happy and healthy, that’s the wish all parents make for their children. But good health and happiness come easier to some than others. For the parents and children at the annual Gift of Life pop-up clinic, they are fighting hard for it. Pediatric cardiologist, Doctor Gul Dadlani is visiting Belize for the fourth time as part of this program.

 

Dr. Gul Dadlani, Pediatric Cardiologist

“The Gift of Life program through Rotary is fantastic. About one in a hundred children are born with a congenital heart problem, meaning a heart problem that’s there at birth. Many of those will need a surgical procedure to correct that. So the gift of life program brings cardiologists and a full team to diagnose those heart conditions and then allows those that need surgery to be able to raise the funds to send them out of the country to have their heart surgery and come back and lead a great quality of life.”

 

 

The most common diseases observed by the doctors include a ventricular septal defect which is a hole between the lower chambers of the heart. Ten -year-old Jacinto Penner recently received surgery at the K.H.M.H. from the Gift of Life Doctors in Belize. Jacinto’s father, Milton Penner, says his family’s life has been changed watching their little heart warrior make a full recovery.

 

 

 

Milton Penner, Father of Jacinto

“It was last year in October. It’s almost a year ago. And it was a very smooth process. It was absolutely wonderful and marvelous. The fact that we were able to do this in Belize, very amazing. Very happy about it.”

 

 

 

Britney Gordon

“Now that your son is recovering, you guys brought him back here today just for follow ups and just to make sure everything’s alright?”

 

 

 

Milton Penner

“Yes he is perfectly fine. After the procedure he is actually recovering in a very beautiful way. We never saw, after leaving the hospital, it was like an instant fix, like instantly. There was not a sign ever again. It was, it was just a very beautiful thing for, to watch, to see him. Just recover and not a sign ever again. And now we’ve been back once. This is the second time after the procedure and He’s doing excellent.”

 

Jacinto is one of many patients whose lives have been touched by the program. The doctors are spending three days in Belize City after one in Dangriga. Nurse Heidi Hess, who has been coming to Belize for the past twenty-four years, estimates that the team sees at least one hundred children annually.

 

Heidi Hess, Pediatric Cardiac Nurse Specialist

“I feel very connected to the country and to the people here. Everyone is so friendly. The children are fantastic.  And I’ve, I love watching them grow up and now they’re growing up and getting married. And they come in and they bring their own children for me to see. And that’s very rewarding.”

 

 

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.