But this morning was Family Day at FWAL, so I went over to play with the children whose families don't come, like I try to do each month. The party was great, and a lot more parents than usual showed up. I got to meet one of my favorite little girl's father which was nice and eye-opening all at the same time. She can be rough around the edges pushy, but she's a very sweet girl and I really like talking with her. I was shocked by how old her father seemed-- whether in years or just because life has been hard on him. I brought over a button-maker which ended up being a great project with the kids whose families didn't come.
After Family Day, I came back to my house and found a text-message saying that we were getting a medical donation, 45 minutes before I saw the text. So I ran over to Fransis vil to make sure everything was brought in correctly and to sign for it. It was great medicine and supplies, exactly what we needed which was so nice for a change. Thanks Direct Relief! I then did an impromptu tour of the hospital for a donor group and finally had some lunch.
I was pretty tired after a morning like that, but I had told some kids at St. Damien's that I would visit them yesterday, and I never made it up, so I was determined to go back today. After lunch I loaded up my bag with coloring books and diapers to go give to the different rooms. My first stop was oncology to visit a 9-year old girl there. While I was there, I asked her about Didine, the little girl who had been abandoned for 5 months but whose mother came to pick her up a little over a month ago. She told me that Didine died a couple days ago. After a few phone calls, her father confirmed the news. She was back in the provence with her family and she got sick and her family didn't have the money to bring her back to the hospital.
I'm still kind of in shock because I only found out about this an hour ago. I'm still not ready to look through the hundreds (seriously) of pictures I have of her. Instead I'm realizing, for the countless time, how enormous the problems are. A four-year old girl in the provence of Haiti has cancer. Her chance of survival is bad, to say the least. But she gets to our hospital which amazingly enough, has an oncology department, which gives us hope for her. But she is only 2/3 done with her treatment-- she still needs radiation-- and she goes back to the provence without it. To her mother who is 20 year's old, with a brand new baby and what I can only imagine is extremely little means. We can give her hope and health for a little while, but with nothing to go home too... for some kids it's not enough. Life is fragile, especially for a four year old with retinoblastoma. It is some consolation that when she passed away, Didine was exactly where she wanted to be-- with her mother.
No comments:
Post a Comment