Gift Of Life, San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Dear All,

My apologies for not sending you an update and good news earlier regarding our last trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where the surgical instruments donated by SCANLAN were used and left with the local team to perform surgeries between our training visits.

The Gift of Life International clinical team, comprising 13 volunteers, was at the Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social from March 21st to the 28th. We performed 9 surgeries. All the patients recovered well and returned to their families within a week after surgery.

Probably the most remarkable case that week was Thiago, a 40-day-old, 3.9 kg baby who had been in the hospital since birth and connected to a ventilator. The local team was unable to extubate him because he was in cardiac failure due to severe Coarctation of the Aorta (a narrowing in the descending aorta). Our team confirmed the diagnosis, and Thiago underwent  coarctation repair. Three days after surgery, Thiago was, for the first time in his life, breathing on his own without a ventilator. 10 days later, he went home with his mom. (The last three pictures attached are from Thiago.)

I want to thank SCANLAN again for this donation to the Honduras program, and I hope we can continue with your support. As you know, accessing high-quality instruments is hard in a resource-limited setting, and this donation makes a huge difference in the surgeries we can perform. For example, the fine instruments donated, including the Castro needle holders, were vital to performing  delicate, precise surgery on Thiago.

I hope you enjoy some of the pics I am attaching to this email.

Sincerely,

RS  

Rodrigo Soto, MD
Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon