Successful Surgeries Give Ugandan Children a Second Change

Samaritan's Purse
Thursday, 24 July 2003

Two Ugandan children with congenital heart defects have new leases on life after receiving life-saving open heart surgery at Children's National Medical Center.

Surgeons operated to repair the hearts of Deborah Lwanga, age 3, and Hassan Bukenya, age 5, who traveled to Washington, D.C. from Uganda in early July, courtesy of Samaritan's Purse, an international relief organization. Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect among children and significantly threaten health and life expectancy if left untreated. Both children were released from the hospital on Monday, July 21.

Deborah and Hassan are the first Ugandan children that Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project has brought to the United States for critical heart care. The children were diagnosed with congenital heart disease by Children's National Medical Center's cardiologist, Dr. Craig Sable, on a recent medical mission to Uganda. The cost of the surgeries will be subsidized by the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation and Larry King Cardiac Foundation.

Samaritan's Purse arranged for the children, their mothers, and an interpreter to be hosted by a local Fairfax Station, Va. family and volunteers from Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va. during their five-week stay. The children are scheduled to return to Uganda on Wednesday, Aug. 13 with healthy hearts and a chance for a normal, active life.

Samaritan's Purse works with more than 45 hospitals in North America and has brought more than 200 children from countries including Bosnia, Mongolia, and Kosovo. In addition to bringing children to North American for life-saving heart surgery, the international relief organization also provides doctors and hospitals overseas with the equipment and training needed to diagnose heart defects and effectively treat sick children in their own countries.

For more information, or to contact Samaritan's Purse, see their website at: www.samaritanspurse.org