Two Little Girls from Tonga
(Rotarian Stuart relates his first experience with a ROMAC patient)
Saturday 26th April 2008, will be etched in my brain for years to come. It was my opportunity to assist ROMAC.
I arrived at the North Melb apartment to pick up the mums and their daughters to take them out for the day. Lu'isa Mafi (7 yrs) and Elisi Halafuka (12 yrs) are here in Melbourne, from Tonga, to have life saving hole in the heart operations. Saturday was cold and mother Lu'isa Leao was in sandals. Elisi's mum was unwell with a cold and a headache, so she stayed in the unit.We headed via Docklands to Port Melb, checked out the bay, the Tassie Ferry and then the unique house Pamela Anderson visage on the blue glass 3 storey home in St Kilda. A pussy cat on the fence interested the girls more.
The Rock n Roll CD had them clapping, singing and dancing in their seats. They love dancing.
Luna Park welcomed us. We negotiated a special deal I was grateful to the management. The fun started and the smiles grew bigger by the moment. The mum, Lu'isa had as much fun as the girls. They waved, squealed and laughed. They were not brave enough to go on the scary ones but had 6 or 7 rides.
At lunch-time a young man in the food outlet listened to my story and gave us another great deal he gave us $40 worth of food for $15. We were so appreciative- the Rotary badge has a great recognition factor.
We headed toward John Bindon's place and stopped at Chadstone to print off photos. Riding on an escalator was a big hit. We left with pockets full of memories. The technology is amazing. - instant gratification.
We had to have a donut and capuccino - again Donut King looked after us with a discount.
We were planning a trip through an automatic car wash but it started raining so we gave it a miss and delivered 3 very tired but excited bodies to John and Jill to head out for dinner.
Friendship and fun can overcome language barriers. I had a wonderful day and will now be connected forever to the future of these two brave young girls. Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children is just one of Rotarys magic programs. Lets hope and pray beds will become available at the Royal Childrens Hospital soon.
Thank you John, you are giving so much to this project. Jump in and help John. OUR club took on this project be involved, it is immensely satisfying.
(Rotarian John tells about the operations)
Lu'isa was successfully operated in the Royal Childrens Hospital on Tuesday 29 April without complications. She was transferred later to the ICU ward and I was able to be with her briefly at that time.
The two mothers with the other girl (Elisi) and Rev. Iki Katoanga from the local Tongan church went to the Rotary Club meeting at Sandringham and arrived back at the hospital approximately 8:30 p.m. Lu'isa's mother also had been fasting all day and I relayed a message to the Sandringham R.C. President that the operation had been successful and the Rev Iki tells me that the mother gave a great sigh of relief and demolished a plate full of food.
Elisi went into the operating theatre at 1 p.m. Thursday and at 9.15pm I received a phone call from the surgeon informing me that the operation had just finished and he was very satisfied with the result. They were pleased that they were able to repair the main heart valve and therefore did not require an artificial implant. Repairs to the other valve was also successful.
At 9:30 p.m. Rev. Iki and I took mum back to the hospital and she was able to see her daughter at 10:15 p.m. A great result. Attached is a photo of Elisi in ICU.
Read here the letter of appreciation from the Tongan Deputy Prime Minister.
