US Woman Helps A’bad Children On Empathy
Human emotions and relations can heal sickness and truly warm the cockles of the heart. One such relationship has been between a 59-year-old American woman and Indian children whom she has come here to aid. These children suffer from the rare condition of bladder exstrophy, and she felt the need to help them after seeing her own adopted Chinese-origin daughter suffer from the same condition.
A number of pediatric patients and their parents come to meet her from near and far at an international programme at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital being run for the last 15 years.
Child adopted from orphanage
Florida resident Pamela Artigas hails from an affluent family. She said she wanted to do something for the community when she came to know that there was a child with a heart ailment at an orphanage run by XU Zhou Welfare organisation in China, who nobody was willing to adopt. Pamela adopted a little girl, Lily. After some time, she learnt that another 2-year-old was not getting adopted as she was suffering from bladder exstrophy, where her bladder was outside her body. The child was tied to a chair when Pamela saw her for the first time.
Pamela said, “I loved the child at first sight and soon started the procedure to adopt her. It takes 18 months to adopt a child in China. I contacted bladder exstrophy expert Dr Grady Richard in the US even before the process was complete.”
When the ailing Anna’s adoption process was complete, they directly went to a hospital in the US instead of home. A complicated surgery was conducted. She said, “I didn’t know much about the condition. We had to follow up for several months after the surgery. I couldn’t bear to see her pain. To help patients of this condition, I set up the American Association for Bladder Exstrophy Care. Since Dr Grady used to come to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital every year, I decided to come along with him in 2014.”
Pamela said, “I realised the extent of the suffering when I first came here. I was surprised by the work of Dr Rakesh Joshi and his team.” It takes 8-9 hours for the correction surgery. The doctors’ faces were happy even after such long surgeries.
Ahmedabad, her calling
I decided to come to Ahmedabad regularly with Dr Grady. Just as I didn’t know about bladder
exstrophy, parents coming here with their children also don’t know about it. I decided to help them and create awareness. I also decided to bring doctors from other
countries to learn the surgery here so that children get treatment there also.”
“I’ve been coming to the workshop in Ahmedabad for the last 7 years so that other children don’t have to go through what Anna went through. To help them through, I give them games and toys and explain the need for regular treatment to the parents. Along with mental and financial help, I try to share their pain. While Dr Grady is no longer among us, it is truly fortunate that Dr Aseem Shukla and Dr Joshi are taking his mission forward, said a teary-eyed Pamela.
Lily is now 17 years old, and Anna is 14 and completely healthy.
What is bladder exstrophy
As many as 200 bladder exstrophy surgeries have been conducted at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Dr Rakesh Joshi and Dr Jayshree Ramji said, “This condition is seen in one out of 10 lakh children. It is a congenital condition where the bladder is formed outside the foetus. When the child grows up, they have no control over urination. The surgery is also long and arduous and costs lakhs of rupees in private hospitals. Along with the late Dr Grady, Dr Aseem Shukla and his colleagues from the US and Dr Joshi and his team from Ahmedabad have performed 200 surgeries so far.”
Dr Joshi said, “This year, we have patients from 13 states of India and from 5 different countries. Another 150 patients are coming for follow up.”