HeartGift Recognized for Children Life-Saving Work

It is always gratifying when an organization that does good things for others is appropriately recognized.

It is even nicer when the "others" who are at the receiving end of those "good things" are the most innocent and vulnerable among us: children, worldwide, who would not survive without critical and specialized medical care.

And it is just icing on the cake when one has intimate knowledge of the outstanding work done by all members of such an organization and the hundreds of professionals and volunteers associated with it.

I am talking about a unique organization, HeartGift, which for 15 years has saved the lives or improved and extended the quality of life for more than 260 children from 33 countries around the world through lifesaving heart surgery to correct congenital heart defects -- surgery that is either unavailable or prohibitively expensive in their native countries.

I became very familiar with HeartGift a little over two years ago when my wife and I had the privilege of hosting beautiful 16-month-old Emily and her mother, both from my native Ecuador, while Emily underwent HeartGift sponsored open-heart surgery to correct a life-threatening ventricular septal defect (VSD), also known as a "hole in the heart."

Emily's surgery and recovery went exceedingly well. Today, Emily is a healthy, happy four-year old , enjoying her young life to the fullest in her modest home on the idyllic mountain slopes of the Andes Mountains, where her parents grow flowers to sell at a nearby market.

Little Emily back in beautiful Ecuador after receiving life-saving heart surgery in Austin, Texas (Photo June 2013 by permission of family)

We speak to Emily's parents periodically and their gratitude for the surgeons, doctors and nurses who saved their baby's life is naturally immense, as it is for HeartGift that made it all possible.

Having seen HeartGift's labor of love up-close-and-personal, I was not at all surprised to learn that HeartGift -- with chapters in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Texas and in New Orleans, Louisiana -- had been awarded the prestigious United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) Humanitarian Organization Award for "for outstanding work of providing heart surgeries to children with Congenital Heart Defects" by the Austin Chapter of that organization.

UNA-USA is a Washington, D.C. based membership organization dedicated to inform, inspire, and mobilize the American people to support the ideals and vital work of the United Nations though a national network of Chapters, youth engagement, advocacy efforts, education programs and public events

"We have always recognized that our mission is great. It's an honor that the UNA recognizes all the families, volunteers, doctors and medical professionals it has taken to save over 260 children," said Dr. John "Chip" Oswalt, HeartGift Board Chair, when notified of the award.

I am sure that Frances from a small farm in Nigeria, Jiating from a remote village in China, Kelly from Nicaragua, Wessale from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, Wahab from war-ravaged Iraq, Norbu from a monastery in Nepal, Courtney from Belize, Emmanuel from Liberia, Yuli from Panama, gorgeous Saranzaya from Mongolia (lead photo), "our own" Emily from Ecuador and at least 250 other children and their families, join me in thanking the United Nations Association for selecting HeartGift for this much deserved honor.

HeartGift CEO William Van Pelt is both proud of and grateful for the award and points out that HeartGift "is an organization where you can be involved as a donor or volunteer and see the direct impact of your commitment - a child saved." He adds, "HeartGift children return home to live a healthy, fulfilled life, uncompromised by health limitations."

To learn more about HeartGift, please go to www.heartgift.org

Lead photo: One-year old Saranzaya preparing to undergo open-heart surgery at Dell Children's Medical Center, Austin, Texas, in March 2014. Photo courtesy HeartGift