Jan 29, 2008 7:29 pm US/Eastern
Johnsley Beats To Life With Heart-Saving Surgery
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Johnsley Mainville Surgery Fundraiser For Congenital Heart Defect.
CBS
Johnsley Mainville returned home to Haiti on Tuesday, after the sixteen-month-old Haitian boy received life-saving heart surgery in Miami on December 7th.
His mother, Bodelin Beaubien, said with the assistance of a translator, "I'm so happy that I'm going back with my baby alive and well. I have no words to explain the joy that I feel."
Mainville suffered from what doctors called a heart problem called complete atrioventricular septal defect. The heart condition causes permanent damage to the lungs and congestive heart failure.
Dr. Elliot R. Rosekranz, a surgeon at the
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine/Jackson Memorial Holtz Center for Maternal/Child Health, assisted in the operation.
Monies were collected back in November, in part, with the help of community leader Armando Gutierrez, who also helped in collecting funds for Devin Alvarez, a 10-year-old boy from Miami, who suffered from multiple medical problems.
Holding back tears, Gutierrez said,
"Devin's had over 23 operations. He gets one every six months, and he helped me raise the money and that's all we have to say."Alvarez was at Miami International Airport to bid farewell to Mainville.
All monies collected for these surgeries had also gone to a non-profit organization called the
International Kids Fund.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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