(Monday, May 23, 2011, Roanoke, VA, USA)- An Oregon woman brought the child to the area, where he has received thousands of dollars in free medical care -- and has said thank you with his smile.
As far as surgeries go, this one had several strikes against it.
First, it was brain surgery, a procedure called endoscopic third ventriculostomy. Carilion Clinic neurosurgeon Lisa Apfel sometimes goes three years without performing this particular operation, which involves relieving the pressure of fluid on the brain.
For months she'd been reading up on it, even phoning the author of the latest relevant research.
Second, this was not just any patient. This was baby Juddah, the 8-month-old who was rescued from a dump in Korah, Ethiopia, earlier this year and landed, somehow, smack dab in the hearts of so many Carilion employees.
"The joy spreader," the nurses call him, sometimes carrying him into depressed patients' rooms so he can share his inimitable, high-voltage smile.
You could see that when they prepped him for surgery early Friday, even though he was hungry and hadn't eaten since the night before. He flashed his wide-mouthed grin to all who touched him, staring intently into their eyes.
Back in Korah, a squatter community on the outskirts of Ethiopia's capital city, people had been up for hours praying for a positive outcome, said Cherrie Cornish, the Salem, Ore., woman who had upended her life, at the age of 52, to bring the baby to Roanoke, all in preparation for this day.
Still, when a nurse carried him away for surgery, with tiny ID bands dangling from his ankles, Cornish burst into tears. "I know it's the whole purpose of him coming here, but now that it's really here -- oh. ... "
As Apfel explained earlier in the week, the surgery to treat Juddah's hydrocephalus would require getting perilously close to a main artery called the basilar -- the slightest nick of which could result in immediate death. Read more »
Source: roanoke.com
As far as surgeries go, this one had several strikes against it.
First, it was brain surgery, a procedure called endoscopic third ventriculostomy. Carilion Clinic neurosurgeon Lisa Apfel sometimes goes three years without performing this particular operation, which involves relieving the pressure of fluid on the brain.
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| Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times |
For months she'd been reading up on it, even phoning the author of the latest relevant research.
Second, this was not just any patient. This was baby Juddah, the 8-month-old who was rescued from a dump in Korah, Ethiopia, earlier this year and landed, somehow, smack dab in the hearts of so many Carilion employees.
"The joy spreader," the nurses call him, sometimes carrying him into depressed patients' rooms so he can share his inimitable, high-voltage smile.
You could see that when they prepped him for surgery early Friday, even though he was hungry and hadn't eaten since the night before. He flashed his wide-mouthed grin to all who touched him, staring intently into their eyes.
Back in Korah, a squatter community on the outskirts of Ethiopia's capital city, people had been up for hours praying for a positive outcome, said Cherrie Cornish, the Salem, Ore., woman who had upended her life, at the age of 52, to bring the baby to Roanoke, all in preparation for this day.
Still, when a nurse carried him away for surgery, with tiny ID bands dangling from his ankles, Cornish burst into tears. "I know it's the whole purpose of him coming here, but now that it's really here -- oh. ... "
As Apfel explained earlier in the week, the surgery to treat Juddah's hydrocephalus would require getting perilously close to a main artery called the basilar -- the slightest nick of which could result in immediate death. Read more »
Source: roanoke.com
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