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It is 7 pm. We are at the Marie Curie Children’s Hospital. The medical team led by doctor Cătălin Cârstoveanu is ready for the transfer to the airport. Four children with serious heart conditions will arrive at San Donato Hospital in Italy. It is their only chance for survival.
It is 9 pm and the ambulances arrive at the airport. Next comes the flight which for some families is the way to save their children. Small, fragile, they are supported by strong mothers or volunteers who take care of them, because some are abandoned by their parents.
For doctors, flying means maximum attention to each child
For doctors, flying means maximum attention to each child and medical procedures to keep them stable.
The smallest patient on the plane is Fabrizio. He has a serious and very rare heart condition, which his parents only found out about after birth. On the very day he turns two weeks old, Fabrizio leaves for the place where doctors will fight to give him years of life.
Mother: “It means a chance at life for my child. He needs several surgeries, but this is the most urgent and important of all. It could not be done in Romania.”
Cătălin Cârstoveanu, doctor: “It’s not a normal life, but it’s the only chance for the child and there are other operations, at least two interventions. There are hardly any children in Romania who become adults with such a disease.”
Patrick is another extremely sick child. He is one year old, and for him the days since he came into the world have meant fighting for survival and loneliness. He was abandoned by his mother in the hospital, but his big eyes seem ready to discover this world, regardless of its difficulties.
Cătălin Cârstoveanu, doctor: “When he came to us, only his eyes were visible. He has a severe illness and being serious we decided to leave with him. We had almost given up hope that he would survive.”
The child is now in Veronica’s care. She came to volunteer at the Marie Curie Hospital, and Patrick won her over. She became his nanny and considers him her child.
Veronica – volunteer: “I went, I saw him and after that I stayed by his side. I submitted a request to take him to my home and he came. It’s been almost two months since he’s been home too. I don’t leave him alone any more if he’s after me.”
Adelina Toncean is another person with a big heart, who took two abandoned children with serious illnesses from the hospital. The first did not survive, because he was not operated on in time.
Adelina Toncean: “I first saw him on the front page of a newspaper from Constanța. He was three years old, he suffered from a very serious malformation, just like children today. He became my baby half a year after I met him and I never thought he would die. Blondie died in front of me, screaming that she was suffocating, and I promised myself it wouldn’t happen again.”
Adelina’s promise is called Blondie. The association received the name of the child he lost and it is a project for life. It organizes medical air transport for children who can be saved in a hospital in another country. Adelina, a frail woman, is stronger than the state. She gathered around her an impressive community and overturns mountains to find money for these races. The road to Italy cost 40,000 euros and has the number 204.
Adelina Toncean: “For some the way back has to go through the sky first and then start life again as it must be for a newborn and its mother.”
The doctor for whom there are no limits when it comes to saving children
In most cases, Adelina teams up with Dr. Cătălin Cârstoveanu, the head of the neonatal intensive care unit at the Marie Curie Hospital. He is the doctor for whom there are no limits when it comes to saving children. Together with the Blondie Association it was the chance of life for more than 700 children.
Cătălin Cârstoveanu, doctor: “Many of those we take abroad would surely die in Romania, because we do not have the capacity to operate on all of them. In Romania, we would have enough doctors, but we do not have the technical capacity to receive them in the two centers that operate on newborns.”
It’s midnight and the plane has landed in Italy. At Milan airport, three ambulances are being prepared to take the children to the San Donato Hospital.
And while some parents get off the plane with tears in their eyes and hope for their children, others return to Bucharest.
Mara is Rebecca’s mother. The girl is four months old and has had three heart operations performed by doctors in Italy. All ended well.
Mara – mother: “What was difficult, I escaped. The operation went very well and our mythic will go to Marie Curie to recover. We must continue to have strength, let him recover and come home healthy, resume our lives and come home, let the sun also come to our street.”
Another child saved thanks to Adelina and doctor Cătălin Cârstoveanu is Ioana. She is now six years old, but was diagnosed with a severe disease at the age of two. He reached the hospital in Italy on the last hundred meters.
Adriana – mother: “When we arrived in Italy, two hours later, she only managed to do a CT scan, after which she desaturated, and the next day she had emergency surgery, so it was really against the clock, both literally and figuratively. If we couldn’t get there, we wouldn’t be in this form today.”
And the formula of happiness means for Ioana regained health and the chance for dreams to come true. Ioana and her twin sister want to become gymnasts or ballerinas.
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