Team Heart begins Surgery


On monday we began surgery and our first patient was a 14yo boy named Jean Dedieu ( John of God).  He lives in a village with his brother and was unable to attend school as he could not make the long walk. We replaced his mitral valve and within 12 hours we had all of his wires and tubes out and he was walking around.   This is a picture of him just after we gave him a ipod with Rwandan music on it.  He called me over and , through a nurse interperter, he asked if this was to " share" or was " mine".   I told him it was his and wrote his name on it. This is the smile i was greeted with!
   He is very poor, lives in a dirt floor hut with a thatched roof;   Our hope is that he will return for follow up ( to charge his ipod).