|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Natalia ''Natasha'' Vasilita, an orphaned Moldovan girl whom Indiana's first lady Judy O'Bannon and officials at St. Vincent Hospital helped to come to Indianapolis for surgery, died Oct. 29 in Moldova following a sudden illness. She was 4. A memorial service is planned for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at Washington Park Mortuary. Beverly Kubik, who housed Natalia and her physician, Dr. Minodora Dragneva, during their month-long visit to Indianapolis, said news of the child's death came the week of Nov. 4. The death was caused by a blood clot in an artery of her pulmonary system. Doctors in Moldova said surgery performed in the United States ''had no impact on her death.'' Natalia had birth defects, including a hole in her heart and a malformed intestinal tract. In the Indianapolis surgeries in August and September, her heart was repaired, and one operation was done on her abdomen. She returned to the orphanage in Moldova to heal in preparation for operations at St. Vincent to complete the repair. O'Bannon said the girl's death saddened her greatly. ''It was a real privilege to have the chance to know her,'' said O'Bannon, ''even if it was only for a short time.'' Natalia was buried in Bunica village of one of her caregivers at the orphanage. Memorial contributions will be used to help children in the orphanage where Natalia lived and will help care for her grave. Checks should be sent to: LifeNets, 3707 Turfway Court, Indianapolis, IN 46228. Checks should note the memorial. Flanner & Buchanan Mortuaries is handling the memorial service. Natasha was born July 15, 1997 in a small village in the Ungheni region of Moldova. She spent the first two years of her life in the regional hospital in Ungheni. Her birth parents died when Natasha was two. At that time, in 1999, she was transferred from the hospital to the orphanage in the capital of Moldova, Chisinau, where she lived until October 29th. She died on October 29, 2001. A wake was held at the orphanage and a funeral was held in the village of ''Bunica'', one of Natasha's closest caregivers. She was buried in a small village outside of Chisinau, Milesti Mici. In Moldova, relatives care for the gravesites, and they felt Natasha should be here so Bunica could care for the site. Natasha's toys and clothes were distributed to the children of the village. (The following was printed in The Indianapolis Star newspaper on Tuesday, September 11, 2001) Natalia was deathly blue. From her fingertips to her toes, she was blue from a lack of oxygen caused by a hole in her heart. Yet the sickness the color represented never reached the 4-year-old's spirit. She loved life even when she could barely walk and her shallow breaths could not blow out a candle. And she loves it still, after surgery has given her belly laughs and pink toes. Three weeks ago, Natalia Vasilita was flown from her home -an orphanage in the Eastern European country of Moldova - to St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis to have her heart repaired. Natalia is one of 25 foreign children flown in each year by St. Vincent from countries where delicate surgery they need is not possible. Through its Children's International Heart Program, hospital officials work with charitable organizations to locate children and arrange the trips, said Sister Sharon Richardt, who directs the St. Vincent charity care program. Since the program started last year with a $750,000 budget, about two dozen children have come from Mongolia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Honduras and Moldova for surgery. Natalia was an unusual case, in part because of the intercession of Judy O'Bannon. Also, Richardt said, most cases that are accepted by the hospital can be corrected in one operation. Natalia is scheduled for more surgery this week at St. Vincent to correct another birth defect. After that, she'll go back to Moldova, but likely will return for still more surgery. V. Simon Abraham, the pediatric cardiovascular surgeon who performed Natalia's operation along with Sanjay Parikh, said while successful surgery is satisfying, ''the reality is, thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of children are in need'' around the world who will not get access to care. Moldova, a country of 4.4 million people, is located between Romania and Ukraine. It suffers from the sicknesses of years of war and cold war. In many ways, the country typifies problems that have plagued Eastern Europe in the decade after the fall of the Soviet Union: poverty and ethnic and economic strife. Given up at birth to the orphanage, Natalia could only be made comfortable by physicians there. Their antiquated medical system could neither repair her heart nor correct the defects in her intestine. Her parents both have since died. Natalia came to Indianapolis in the arms of the orphanage's pediatrician, Dr. Minodora Dragneva. Dr. Dora Dragneva was her very loved caretaker. Natasha called her, ''MaMa''. Dragneva, impressed with the U.S. medical system, said Natalia was the beneficiary of a convergence of hearts, wallets, medicine and good will. And O'Bannon. The governor's wife visited the orphanage in April with physicians from Fort Wayne's Parkview Hospital. The doctors assist clinics and orphanages there with medical expertise, equipment and medicines. O'Bannon said the experience was still fresh when she gave a speech at the May opening of St. Vincent's children's hospital. After the speech, someone asked O'Bannon if there were any Moldovan children in need of surgery. O'Bannon said she immediately thought of Natalia. O'Bannon and the Fort Wayne doctors took a second trip to Moldova in June, where Natalia was examined. Soon, doctors from St. Vincent, Fort Wayne and Moldova concurred on what the child's problems were and that only surgery that could be done in America could correct them. That was the first hurdle. The red tape was a tangle. ''For many of these children, the surgery they need is not complicated,'' said St. Vincent's Richardt. ''Getting them here is complicated.'' O'Bannon said the level of cooperation in Indiana, though, was remarkable. The hospitals, known for competition, worked together as never before, she said. ''It really has been a wonderful example of different people from all different situations taking the gifts they have and pooling them for a cause.'' A week after the Aug. 24 heart surgery, the bright-eyed girl with a cap of short, blonde hair toddles around in her new sneakers and twirls around in a red frock, thrilled to be the center of attention. Natalia and her doctor are staying at the home of Victor Kubik, the Indianapolis head of LifeNets International, a charitable organization. Kubik, himself originally from Ukraine, which borders Moldova, had helped O'Bannon with the connections to the orphanage. Dragneva, who affectionately calls her young charge by the nickname Natasha, said the child should eventually be adopted. ''Children really need to have a family,'' she said through an interpreter. ''Right now, the main question is Natasha's health. But we will be fighting for her future, too.'' After St. Vincent surgeons fixed Natalia's heart, restoring blood flow, she quickly recovered. She left the hospital after just four days. All those in Indiana who have had the opportunity to meet Natsha were touched by her beautiful smile and loving spirit. Everyone became her ''auntie'' and ''uncle''. ''She awes and amazes people,'' Judy O'Bannon said of the child. ''I am awed and amazed.'' As is Natalia. When the child awoke from surgery, she gazed at her hands and feet. ''My fingers are pink!'' she said. ''My toes are pink!'' (The following was printed in the Indianapolis Star newspaper on Wednesday, November 21, 2001.) What was it, exactly, that caused more than two dozen two dozen adults in Indianapolis, including first lady Judy O’Bannon, to come together to remember a 4-year-old orphan girl from Moldova whom they had known for less than two months? Maybe it was hope, said O’Bannon, choking back tears over the death of Natalia “Natasha” Vasilita on October 29 in Moldova. Natasha was just that special. In a memorial service at Washington Park North Mortuary, those adults laughed and cried. And they gazed at photographs of a plum-cheeked Natasha back at an orphanage in Moldova. And she giggled, from a framed picture on a pedestal at the front of the room. An elaborate spray of flowers topped the photograph. Natasha died when a blood clot stilled the heartbeat that had been restored in an operation at St. Vincent Hospital. Born with birth defects that included a hole in her heart and malformed intestines, the little girl was turned over by her parents, now dead, at the age of 2. Her last two years were spent largely in an isolation ward at the orphanage. Then she was noticed by a team of doctors from Fort Wayne and O’Bannon, who made a trip to the poor Eastern European nation last spring. O’Bannon and officials in Fort Wayne and at St. Vincent Hospital cut through miles of red tape, and the child, with her beloved doctor, Minodora Dragneva, was flown to Indianapolis for surgery. The heart surgery was a resounding success, and Natasha walked out of the hospital, pin and bright-eyed for the first time in her life. She had another operation to begin correcting her bowel, and had returned to Moldova to heal until she could come to Indianapolis for more surgery. O’Bannon said that in an uncertain world, perhaps Natasha did symbolize hope. The state’s first lady looked out at the crowd of people, brought together to help bring the little girl to the United States. “Here we are, trying not to cry, and it all happened because of a teeny, tiny little girl. I think she will always give us a sense of hope.” |
|
|
|
