Source: Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America
In December 2016, we made an appeal: HELP MARIA – Make a Christmas Miracle Happen!
Today, we are making a Paschal Appeal: $19,000 raised but $13,000 still needed.
In order for Maria Elena Sauca to receive the follow-up operations she needs on April 24 and May 1, 2017 in Royal Oak, Michigan, $13,000 is still needed. Please make a donation during the Paschal season. Donation information (checks and online) is listed below at the end of the letter from Nobody’s Children.
We send our deep gratitude and humble thanks from Nobody’s Children and Baby Maria Elena Sauca’s family. Because of your generous support and faithful prayers, in January we were able to bring her from Ruscova, Romania to Royal Oak, MI for sight-saving eye surgery by Dr. M. Trese. In February, Baby Maria Elena and her mother traveled to Rome for a follow-up visit with Dr. Trese’s colleague, Dr. A. Capone Jr. Since the surgery, she has gained light perception, and he was very pleased with her progress. Therefore we are bringing her with her mother back for follow-up surgery on each eye on April 24th and May 1st again with Dr. Trese at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Baby Maria Elena is a cheerful, happy baby who is an inspiration to all that meet her. Her remarkable journey continues because of your faithful support. They will be accompanied to Royal Oak by four Romanian ophthalmologists and neonatologists who will spend three weeks here with Dr. Trese and Dr. Capone Jr. and their colleagues, learning proper eye examination and management of retinopathy in premature infants (ROP). By the end of the month, we will have brought a total of nineteen Romanian physicians to learn about ROP, which is a curable disease, which needs to be diagnosed early and treated so it does not leave an infant blind. We will soon have teams in hospitals in Iasi, Cluj and Craiova. Nobody’s Children makes all the arrangements and supports the travel and lodging for all these programs. So friends, your support for Maria Elena has led to an educational opportunity for four Romanian physicians. Please help us educate the physicians so we can stop ROP from taking the sight of Romanian infants.
Please donate now to support this urgent worthy cause. Nobody’s Children is a small charity that relies totally on our donors.
Checks can be sent to:
Nobody’s Children
PO Box 1076
Windham NH 03087
Or made through PayPal at: www.PayPal.Me/NobodysChildren.
In Hope and Peace and Sight for Children,
H. Elaine Mac Ewen
Executive Director
603.893.0925
A Few Words from Dr. Capone
For the last 2 years I, along with pediatric retinal surgery partners Drs. Michael Trese and Kimberly Drenser and neonatology colleague Dr. Cindy Price here at William Beaumont Hospital inRoyal Oak, Michigan, have been involved in an initiative to stop and/or diagnosis and treat retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in it’s early stages to prevent blindness in Romanian children. This initiative has been prompted by the increase in the number of Romanian infants in our clinics.
On one hand, Romania is a typical country evolving through the process of improving neonatal care – which in turn increases premature infant survival, and consequently prematurity associated complications such as blindness from ROP. However, what is genuinely unique about Romania is that the evolution to widespread implementation of screening programs so that infants requiring treatment for ROP could be identified and treated in a timely and appropriate fashion has happened with exceptional speed. This evolution has been catalyzed by Ms. Elaine MacEwen and her team of Nobody’s Children’s-sponsored Romanian physicians. She recognized that meaningful change in Romania would require training not just ophthalmologists interested in pediatric retinal disease, but a team incorporating educational opportunities for Romanian neonatologists as well.
Nobody’s Children Romanian Doctor to Doctor ROP Program has sponsored nearly 20 Romanian ophthalmologists and neonatologists over these 2 years. Consequently, we have already seen a dramatic decline in the number of infants arriving leaving romania for advanced surgical care – because they are being more effectively managed as infants which lowers the incidence of ROP, and because they are being more effectively screened and treated at early stages of disease. Financial support of Nobody’s Children helps this organization continue to move toward it’s clearly defined goal: to prevent ROP when possible, and when it does occur to diagnose and treat it in it’s early stages to eliminate ROP-related blindness in Romania’s premature infant population.