Vincent
Vincent is a Solomon Islands patient who arrived in Australia as a two-month old requiring urgent surgery to correct a blockage between his oesophagus and his stomach. This meant he had to be fed via a catheter into the stomach. Ten months later, after follow-up surgery, numerous hospital visits for day procedures, and constant monitoring Continued…
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Viliame
Four-year-old Viliame arrived in New Zealand from Fiji, bouncing into the country and sprinting about the airport, unlike many of our heart patients who often arrive feeling quite poorly. He needed surgery to treat a coronary arterial fistula – a connection between one or more of the coronary arteries and a cardiac chamber or great Continued…
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Verzi
Verzi, a fifteen-year-old girl from the Solomon Islands, arrived in Sydney with her carer, Aunt Vedna. She had rheumatic fever in 2015 and now needed the mitral valve in her heart replaced. Verzi had her pre-admission checks at the Westmead Children’s Hospital Heart Clinic, in preparation for her surgery. Her surgeon was Dr Ian Nicolson, Continued…
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Mourine
Mourine, accompanied by her mother Ekila, arrived in Sydney to receive treatment for a large mass growing on her neck and chest. Their home is a small island in the north of the Solomon Islands where they live a subsistence life without modern conveniences, such as electricity. The culture shock on arrival in Sydney, where Continued…
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Rachel
Rachel and her mother Victoria arrived in Auckland, New Zealand from Vanuatu in June. Rachel had a renal condition that needed to be resolved and the renal team at Starship Hospital promptly got to work to treat her. Rachel was accommodated in Ronald McDonald House and was hosted by the Rotary Club of Birkenhead. Under Continued…
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Ken
Ken lives with his family in a remote village in the Solomon Islands where they have no running water or electricity. He was born prematurely at 6 months so he was taken by canoe to a clinic and then transported to hospital, where he spent the next 3 months. However, over time, his heart started Continued…
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Teretoriano
Teretoriano was referred to ROMAC by the Biro Pite Clinic in Timor-Leste. He had been diagnosed with a Wilm’s tumour of the kidney. As his mother had suffered TB, Teretoriano’s grandmother Claudina had to accompanied him. He arrived very ill and had to have immediate surgery
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