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 February
2005
This is Yolanda Joseph with her mother. Yolanda is three-and-a-half years
old and just as cute as her picture shows. But, Yolanda is a very sick little
girl. She was born with a heart defect known as Tetrology of Fallot. The first
time I saw her was at the end of October. At that time she didn’t jump around
and play like most other children because she was constantly short of breath.
Her heart beat sounded more like it was coming from a washing machine than a
heart.
If we were to do nothing for Yolanda, she would slowly get shorter of breath
each couple months and eventually her heart would not support her life. Her
parents knew since her birth that she was having a problem and saw to it that
she was well cared for. Although a local doctor has followed her condition, in
Haiti that doesn’t always mean that these kinds of problems can be solved. You
see, in order to repair her problem, Yolanda needs open heart surgery which is
not available in Haiti. Also, although her father is a driver for the
Organization of American States, he has no insurance nor is his pay enough to
afford the many thousands of dollars the surgery would take.
I have obtained all Yolanda’s records and sent them to the Children’s
Surgical Unit at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis where they have
evaluated her situation and have tentatively agreed to do her surgery. There
are still many “ifs,” “ands,” and “buts” yet to cross but just now it seems like
there is a good chance she will be able to have her surgery sometime this
Spring. We continue to work with St. Vincent’s Hospital and The Timmy
Foundation, the organization that will fund the travel and care of Yolanda and
her mother while in Indianapolis. We are also working with the United States
Embassy who will need to give them the official papers so they can travel to the
USA.
Please add Yolanda to your prayer list. I will update you when I find out
more specifics on this precious little girl.
  
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