Zimbabwe

International Updates

Laurie Kelley March 1, 2010

An 8.8 earthquake rocked Chile this weekend–a second major earthquake in a developing country in only 6 weeks. So many people asked about those with hemophilia in Haiti, that I’d like to reassure everyone that Chile has a very good hemophilia health care system, and those with hemophilia should be well cared for, even following the quake.

And I have good news about Haiti: we learned that one boy we know there, who has factor VIII deficiency and whom we have helped before is okay, and we are sending more factor to him. This summer I hope to visit Haiti to get a patient registry started, to learn where hemophilia patients are and how many there are. Following the earthquake, so many NGOs are teaming together to bring help, that I will piggyback off some groups already established there, who have pledged to help us.

This past week I was in New York City (yes, during that terrible storm!) and visited the ambassador to the United Nations from Zimbabwe, His Excellency Boniface Chidyausiku. This is the UN dignitary who helped us speed up Elton’s visa approval one year ago, so Elton could come to the US for emergency surgery at RUSH Hospital in Chicago. It was a wonderful meeting, and we reminisced about visits to the beautiful country of Zimbabwe and the people we both know in health care there. Accompanying me was Juliet Hanlon, UN Goodwill Ambassador and recording artist, who made this meeting possible.

There are good things happening internationally, despite the often sad news of political unrest or natural disasters. Even if it’s a story of one boy from Zimbabwe or Haiti, it’s enough to keep hope alive.

Good Book I Just Read
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

I was given this book over a year ago and finally read it, in two nights. A little gem! There’s nothing new presented here that Napoleon Hill didn’t already present previously in his landmark Think and Grow Rich or that Wayne Dyer hasn’t presented for 20 years now in his books and on public television. But this sure is marketed and packaged in a way that makes you savor it. The book is about the Law of Attraction, and how the universe will provide if you make your intentions and desires clear and visualized. Mankind has known about this Law for eons, and I’ve read many books on the subject, but I really enjoyed how this one was set up and presented. It gets a bit hokey a few times, and I didn’t like the heavy marketing of the DVD, but overall, a light read, one that will make you feel wonderful and I do believe it works! I’ve used it myself with success. Three stars.

Khumbs

Laurie Kelley November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving Day last Thursday was celebrated all across America but it was a sad day in Zimbabwe. We lost another young man to hemophilia, Khumbs.

Khumbs was very special to me. I first heard of him in 1998, when he was only eight years old. He was about to lose his leg after an ankle bleed became infected. It was a risky procedure because there was (and still is) no factor available in Zimbabwe. We tried to ship product as quickly as possible, to try to save his leg, but it was too late. In 2000 I traveled to Zimbabwe, and met little Khumbs at his home in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, which always reminds me of New Orleans. He was charming, with a big smile. His mother had died recently. Loss, then more loss. Zimbabweans are used to losses.

In 2001 we held the first-ever hemophilia camp in Zimbabwe, named after one of the founders of the Zimbabwe Haemophilia Association, Norman Mubaiwa. 65 children who all come from impoverished homes attended. It was held at the Hwange Safari Park, and for the first time in their lives, the Zimbabwe kids got to see their native animals. Zebras, giraffes and wildebeests all came to the watering hole at dusk. Khumbs followed me around everywhere at that camp, smiling his infectious smile. On spindly crutches and one leg, he scuttled about, always tailing me. He didn’t speak English, only his native Ndebele. When I would turn and look at him, he’d get shy and smile. Later on, I saw him sitting by the small in-ground pool. I motioned for him to go in but he was too shy. Zimbabweans are so polite and sensitive. When I insisted, he finally believed me and next thing I knew, he shucked off his pants and jumped into the pool in his underwear, not at all conscious of his stump. He had a blast!

I took a photo of Khumbs at that camp, and his smile summed up the joy I have seen in children worldwide when they go to camp. He was beaming. I took that photo and had it digitally enlarged and processed like an oil painting. I hung it on my wall so that Khumbs’ smile was with me every day.

I returned to Zimbabwe in December 2007. Conditions in the country had deteriotated unbeliveably. 80% unemployment, one million percent inflation, food shortages. I returned to Bulawayo, not an easy task given the lack of gasoline; it’s a five hour ride from the capital. We visited Khumbs again. He was so tall! And so healthy looking! His wonderful uncle took Khumbs and his brother in, after their father died. More loss. Khumbs was perched on the same pediatric crutch that he had been using, which was now patched. After our happy visit, I went off to look for a new crutch.

We found Khumbs a sponsor and he became our first enrollee in Save One Life. This program provides financial resources each month for children with hemophilia in the developing world. His sponsor was Jill Smith, a hemophilia nurse from Australia, who had traveled with me to Zim in 1999. She had met Khumbs, too.

How shocking to awaken on Thanksgiving morning to a text message from Zim saying: “Khumbs is gone. We are devastated.” More loss, always more loss.

Khumbs’ picture will forever stay on my office wall, a snap shot of a time when we gave a brave little boy who had lost almost everything the most wonderful time of his life–hemophilia camp. And now, we are the ones left with the loss.

(If you’d like to sponsor a child like Khumbs, please visit http://www.saveonelife.net/ Despite his loss, we are saving lives!)

Celebrating Elton’s Surgery, American-Style

Laurie Kelley March 30, 2009

I’m back from a wonderful trip to Chicago, to celebrate Elton’s recovery from surgery with many of the people who helped make it happen. On Wednesday night we all met at Maggiano’s in Chicago. I had not seen Elton since December 2007, when I was in his home, and saw the enormous knee that was causing his leg to go numb. To see him sitting in a fancy restaurant in Chicago! Amazing!

Also present was the entire Castaldo clan, who are hosting Elton’s visit: Angela and Chris Castaldo; Luke, who has hemophilia; Philip; and Simeon. I have met Luke and Philip before but not Simeon, who is as every bit as handsome and well behaved as his brothers. Dr. Len Valentino not only came but hosted the entire evening. Audrey Taylor, nurse at RUSH University joined us, and Kimberly, the admin for the HTC. Also the lovely Nancy, his physical therapist, who I think has the hardest job in the world. And best of all, Neil Herson, Elton’s sponsor through our nonprofit Save One Life. Neil had provided Elton’s airfare and this evening, showered him with presents: a new soccer ball, sports clothes, new sports sneakers, a laptop! (You should have seen Elton’s eyes) Elton was already looking pretty hip with his new iPod (a gift from Dr. V) but now he was really GQ quality! Accompanying Neil was Stephanie Miller, director of marketing at ASD Healthcare, where Neil is president.

Elton has a dazzling smile and gentle demeanor that charms everyone he meets. He was so grateful for all the attention and gifts. He is now walking on crutches, feeling better and working hard at his PT.

Thanks to everyone who supported Elton, who sent money, who sent gifts. Thanks to Wyeth for the great donation of factor IX. We’ve been able to extend Elton’s visit two more weeks, to give him more time to do PT and heal. Please continue to read all about Elton at http://www.chris-tocentric.com and leave Elton a message there! He will get it, I promise!

Elton–18 years old, traveling half way across the world, never having been on a plane before, or even out of your town, trusting total strangers– you are an inspiration and a courageous young man!

Great Book I Just Re-Read
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

This is the beginning of all people skills, self-improvement books, first published in 1937, and still relevant and vital. It’s a basic “how to” manage people and develop the self to be better at motivating others, getting along with others and making a difference. Very easy to read, and chock full of real life examples, from history and also just every day people, Carnegie is entertaining, motivating and stresses kindness over efficiency. His principles are truths and you can really see a difference in your relationships if you start to use them, Incidentally, I applied these in raising my children, and they work beautifully to raise respectful and polite children. You can read this in one night probably, but its impact will last a lifetime. Four stars; a classic.

Love: From A (America) to Z (Zimbabwe)

Laurie Kelley March 2, 2009

If you read about my travels to Zimbabwe in December 2007, you’ll remember I went to the home of Elton Sare, a 17-year-old with hemophilia who was suffering from a grotesquely swollen right knee. I met Elton’s entire family, including brother Emmanuel, age 11, who also has hemophilia. Elton lives in poverty: his father died ten years ago. His mother earns only about $27 US a month selling vegetables. His older brother Sylvester was sick with tuberculosis, quarantined in the kitchen, sleeping on the cold, hard floor.

Elton haunted me for months, and I tried to find help for him–a hospital that might offer free care. I had just about given up, until I met UN Goodwill Ambassador Juliet Hanlon, who persuaded me to keep trying, day after day. Juliet gave me renewed faith and hope. I started asking again.

When I mentioned Elton’s case to Dr. Len Valentino (chief of Pediatric Hematology and Director of the Rush Hemophilia & Thrombophilia Center at RUSH Hospital University Medical Center in Chicago) at the NHF annual meeting in November, he told me he might be able to help. Just get Elton here and we would appeal to the generosity of the RUSH community to help.

What’s happened since then is nothing short of a miracle. Elton is here now, in Chicago. He just arrived Saturday morning, after 30 hours in transit, traveling alone, with three plane changes. The gracious staff at South Africa Airways ensured he arrived safely. What courage Elton has!

You cannot imagine the challenges to get him here. When Dr. Valentino offered the surgery, Providence, as they say, started moving. We found a donor for plane tickets–Neil Herson, president of ASD Healthcare. Wyeth agreed to provide BeneFIX for the surgery. My dear friends Chris and Angela Castaldo, who have a young son with hemophilia (and two others!) opened their home to Elton for a month. A volunteer from Zimbabwe living in Chicago, Emma, helped meet him at the airport, to make him feel more at home. Even the UN got involved when it looked like Elton’s visa might be denied. A collection was taken through Save One Life to raise money for the passport, visa and traveling expenses–$2,900 raised in two days!

Elton comes from a country that is collapsing: there is 80% unemployment, over one million percent inflation, the world’s highest. And a raging cholera epidemic that has killed over 3,700. Food and gas are in short supply. Elton went shopping today at a mall: his eyes wide, he was overwhelmed seeing all the stores, the sites, the sounds. But not so overwhelmed that he didn’t know what to say when asked if he wanted a CD: “Usher.”

I learned through Chris that Elton’s brother Sylvester died of TB last summer. And his older sister died just in September of meningitis. Loss is common in countries like Zimbabwe. I wonder how his mother ever found the courage to let her 18-year-old son board a plane and fly half way around the world to be with strangers in a strange country.

But Elton is adjusting as only a teen can. He loves the cold weather, enjoys movies on the TV, and is warming to his host family. It must be so strange. He had his first infusion tonight for a bleed in his right elbow. Tomorrow (Monday) he has an array of tests at RUSH, and on Thursday, he gets his operation for his synovitis. We’ll keep you posted on how he is doing. You can also read Chris’s website: http://www.chris-tocentric.com for a first-hand report.

Thanks to everyone who is helping Elton! Please consider making a contribution, so that we can buy Elton new clothes, a suitcase, some CDs, and art supplies (he loves to paint in watercolor!). We want to stock him up before he heads back March 28 to Zimbabwe, where these things are not available, and where life is the greatest gift.

Go to www.SaveOneLife.net and click “Donate.” It’s that easy, and will mean so much to Elton.

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Laurie Kelley December 15, 2008

With Christmas coming, we always play a long iPod list of holiday songs. Our tastes run from traditional ones, like Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” Perry Como’s “O Holy Night” and Johnny Mathis’ “Christmas Song,” to Queen’s “Thank God It’s Christmas,” Elvis’ “Why Can’t Every Day Be Like Christmas?”, Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis,” and Sting’s “Gabriel’s Message.” But our favorite is “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band-Aid.

You might recall this was a song written and recorded in 1984 by several top English and Irish recording artists to help raise money for famine relief in Africa. “The record was released on November 29, and went straight to No. 1 in the UK singles chart, outselling all the other records in the chart put together. It became the fastest- selling single of all time in the UK, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at No. 1 for five weeks, selling over three million copies and becoming easily the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK,” notes Wikepedia. The video can be seen on YouTube.

It’s a timeless song, about the timeless plight many African countries face. I think of it now as we try to help our hemophilia brothers in Zimbabwe, a country collapsing under economic duress. This is a beautiful country, filled with civil and peace-loving people, where literacy rate is 95% and which once served as the breadbasket of Africa. I was there a year ago at this time, and my visit has haunted me ever since.

Now, in addition to the highest inflation rate in the world, and 80% unemployment, it suffers a devastating cholera outbreak. Cholera is a killer; it is transmitted through food and water, and can claim a victim within 24-48 hours through dehydration. If you’ve watched CNN, you will see how the disease has spread. Total U.S. humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe’s food and health crisis is more than $226 million since October 2007, but the disease continues. The UN has reported a total of 13,960 cholera cases with 774 deaths since August 2008, affecting all provinces in the country. The actual death rate is said to be even higher than this reported number.

In the midst of all this, how is hemophilia care faring? There is little food in the country, minimal health care, and no treatment for hemophilia. I am proud to say that the US is the number one aid donor to Zimbabwe, and likewise, Project SHARE is the number one donor of factor to Zimbabweans with hemophilia. And I’ll be the first to say this still isn’t saying much. The needs are deep. We are now sponsoring individuals in Zimbabwe, supplying factor and struggling to help Elton, an 18-year-old with a grotesquely swollen knee from repeated untreated bleeds. He is in danger of losing his leg, and even life, if we do not get him medical aid.

In the midst of everything–famine, disease, unemployment, devalued currency, no gas, no foreign exchange, little medicine—the Zimbabwe Haemophilia Association perseveres. When you think about our current economic situation in the US, take a moment and think about theirs. And they do not complain, but shoulder their burdens with grace. How do you celebrate Christmas when there is so much loss, and hopelessness? They will still celebrate. The almost amazing news to me is that they will hold their Annual General Meeting, in Harare, despite the outbreak and lack of food. Nothing seems to stop them! While our national hemophilia meeting overflows with money and give-aways, nice hotel rooms and so much food we throw most of it away, their meeting will be held at a hospital, in a bare room, with no food, filled with hungry people. hungry for medicine, food and hope.

Do they know it’s Christmas? They do, in the purest sense. Do we know? Christmas is a time of charity. That’s what gift giving is about. Please think to help those in Zimbabwe with a simple gift: $10 is a fortune to them. Let’s make a donation to their meeting, to provide food, travel money and maybe even some Christmas gifts… go to www.SaveOneLife.net and make a one-time donation to Zimbabwe, to our brothers with hemophilia, to let them know it’s Christmas.

Do They Know It’s Christmas? Band-Aid 1984

It’s Christmastime
There’s no need to be afraid
At Christmastime, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime

But say a prayer

Pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it’s hard, but when you’re having fun
There’s a world outside your window
And it’s a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you

And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life
(Oooh) Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?

(Here’s to you) raise a glass for everyone
(Here’s to them) underneath that burning sun
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?

Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world

Let them know it’s Christmastime again