Helping with Open Hearts

Less than two weeks ago, nine-year-old Melvin Trujillo could not even sit up in bed. Born with a heart defect, he had spent most of his short life in a reclining position so air could more easily pass through his lungs. He had never attended school. But with the help of Boston University students, Melvin flew from his native El Salvador to Boston to undergo surgery. A week later, he was sitting up in bed.

“This child probably wouldn’t have lived a month longer without the surgery,” says Karen Jacobs, a SAR clinical professor of occupational therapy and advisor to the college’s Rotaract Club, which spent two years raising money to fly Melvin and his mother to the United States for the January 28 surgery. “Melvin arrived here in the nick of time.”

The right side of Melvin’s heart did not develop properly, leaving him with only one pumping chamber, a condition known as tricuspid atresia. The disease, also referred to as blue baby syndrome, causes the skin to develop a bluish tint and contributes to poor weight gain and recurrent lung infections. Untreated, the defect leads to decreased life expectancy or death.

Rotaract, a community service club, had a child like Melvin in mind when it decided to team up with the Gift of Life International program to sponsor lifesaving surgery for a child with a congenital heart defect. Boston’s Children’s Hospital agreed to donate the surgery. When Rotaract students raised the minimum $5,000 to cover the costs associated with the procedure, including travel to Boston and housing and living expenses for the child’s family, they contacted Gift of Life International. Within a few weeks, they were preparing for Melvin’s arrival.

“It wasn’t until one week before their arrival, when I received copies of their plane tickets, that I realized it was finally going to happen,” says club president Nehal Patel (SAR’07), who spearheaded the fundraising effort. “We were going to be able to save a child. I can’t describe that feeling.”

Jacobs, who was in the operating room for part of the surgery, and Rotaract students spent most of the five-hour procedure waiting anxiously for hourly updates from doctors. “We had chills and were holding our breath, hoping that this would work,” Jacobs recalls. “We all cried when we heard that the surgery was a success.”

Doctors say the surgery should dramatically improve Melvin’s quality of life, allowing him to attend school for the first time and to live for many decades.

It’s been incredible to see the change in the boy since the surgery, says Hector Mendez (CAS’09), a member of Rotaract, who is from El Salvador. “Almost two weeks ago, when they arrived, I remember Melvin coming out of the airport gate in a wheelchair,” he says. “The day after the surgery, there was a notable difference in his appearance, and he is already up and about, playing video games, talking more, and recovering so quickly. He has much more energy than before.”

Hundreds of students have been involved in the project, according to Jacobs. Students go to the hospital every day to visit Melvin and his mother, who do not speak English and cannot read or write Spanish. Toys, clothes, phone cards, and even food native to El Salvador have been donated to make their stay more comfortable. Melvin is expected to leave the hospital as early as today; Boston University has provided a furnished apartment in a Bay State Road rowhouse for them until they go home in March.

“This initiative resonates with students, because it shows them that there are people less fortunate than they are and that we have services in the United States that we can provide to them,” says Jacobs. “BU is a village that has almost limitless resources, and most of those resources are students. Everyone has something that they can contribute to this project.”

The Rotaract Club is continuing to raise money to cover the expenses of Melvin and his mother while they are in Boston. On Wednesday, February 14, the club will sell roses and Valentine’s Day cards at the George Sherman Union.

Meghan Noé can be reached at mdorney@bu.edu.