The Ends of the Earth

When Sugarplum had her surgery last May (which you can read about here, here and here)we met the family of the little girl in the bed next to her. Her name is Maida and she was 9 months old at the time of her surgery.
Her family is from Pakistan and she was born with 4 holes in her heart. The family was told in Pakistan this would require many surgeries to correct and they didn't know how successful they would be.
Fortunately, the mother, as most mothers do, refused to accept these answers and began doing plenty of research on her own. With the help of family in the US and the good fortune to be able to travel, they decided to come here to care for their daughter.
With two older children in school, mom came here with little Maida who became a patient of Sugarplum's own cardiologist. Dad followed once school was out for summer with the older children.
Her surgery was a success and her prospects were great. She seemed a little unstable at first in the ICU room, but once the breathing tube was removed from her tiny lungs, she immediately settled down.
Our cardiologist was nice enough to schedule a reunion of sorts by scheduling follow-up appointments with both of us on the same day, one after another. She was doing fabulously well.
Our Dr. informed us that this mom was his hero. They found out about their daughter's condition, and she immediately began to work to find the best solution to get her daughter help. In his words, she went to the ends of the earth to help her child... so he refused to charge her for the exams and helped coordinate the charity efforts of the children's hospital to cover most if not all of the expenses of the surgery.
Today, on another bulletin board I frequent, someone posted this site. This is an orgranization helping other children in the middle east get to Isreal to have heart surgeries they need. Surgeries that are needed for the same condition Sugarplum had, and many worse.
Seeing this site today, reading these stories, makes me remember just how fortunate I am to live here with access to health care and technology that so many others don't. Even if our economy is presently in the toilet, even if it's hard to pay the bills every month, even though our political future is in turmoil right now, we are still so lucky.

I've decided that for the month of October, I'll be compiling donations for this organization. If anyone wants to donate, please e-mail me at sugarplumsmom @ gmail dot com and I will send you information to either mail a check or send money through paypal. Or you can obviously donate directly on your own. Donations collected will be used to sponsor as many kids as currently need it, or will be sent in as one general donation to be used wherever it is most needed.