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Belize Infant Energetic After Surgery In Boston
Heart Operation 'A Gift Of Life'
POSTED: 11:08 am EDT July 10,
2008
UPDATED: 12:00 pm EDT July 10,
2008
BOSTON -- A 10-month old boy is recovering from life-saving heart surgery at MassGeneral Hospital for Children.
Baby Gets Gift Of Life It's the happy ending to a story that began thousands of miles away. Manlee Moody was brought here from Belize, Central America for the operation June 30. "Everything is doing fine right now. He's doing good," said his mother Stephany Tucker "He's already shown that this surgery has done him a lot of good. He is out of his heart failure now. He's able to eat again without being short of breath. He's getting back pretty quickly to being a normal kid without a heart defect," said Dr. Jeff Myers, the surgeon who performed Manlee's operation. According to Myers without the procedure Manlee would have only lived another five or six years. Manlee's surgery was made possible by Gift of Life, a charitable organization which works with Rotary Clubs around the world to help provide children with life saving surgeries. The group pays expenses for the patients and a family member and finds host families for them to house them. Hospitals such as MassGeneral Hospital for Children and surgeons such as Dr. Myers donate their services. Gift of Life was founded more than three decades ago. "Our goal is, the next 10 years, we've set a goal of over 30,000 children. We've been in operation for 33 years and we've operated on nearly 10,000," said Rob Raylman, director of Gift of Life International. One of the early recipients of the group's life saving surgery was Brett Halvorson. He was brought to the United States from Korea in 1983 when he was 5 years old. "I don't remember much, but what I do remember is complete strangers caring for me and I felt the love from them," said Halvorson. Among those strangers were President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan. Halvorson was flown here aboard Air Force One. He remains grateful for his gift of life and now wants to give back. "I would not be here without Gift of Life and the help of complete strangers. Having said that, it makes me very inspired to help other children as well," he said
Baby Gets Gift Of Life It's the happy ending to a story that began thousands of miles away. Manlee Moody was brought here from Belize, Central America for the operation June 30. "Everything is doing fine right now. He's doing good," said his mother Stephany Tucker "He's already shown that this surgery has done him a lot of good. He is out of his heart failure now. He's able to eat again without being short of breath. He's getting back pretty quickly to being a normal kid without a heart defect," said Dr. Jeff Myers, the surgeon who performed Manlee's operation. According to Myers without the procedure Manlee would have only lived another five or six years. Manlee's surgery was made possible by Gift of Life, a charitable organization which works with Rotary Clubs around the world to help provide children with life saving surgeries. The group pays expenses for the patients and a family member and finds host families for them to house them. Hospitals such as MassGeneral Hospital for Children and surgeons such as Dr. Myers donate their services. Gift of Life was founded more than three decades ago. "Our goal is, the next 10 years, we've set a goal of over 30,000 children. We've been in operation for 33 years and we've operated on nearly 10,000," said Rob Raylman, director of Gift of Life International. One of the early recipients of the group's life saving surgery was Brett Halvorson. He was brought to the United States from Korea in 1983 when he was 5 years old. "I don't remember much, but what I do remember is complete strangers caring for me and I felt the love from them," said Halvorson. Among those strangers were President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan. Halvorson was flown here aboard Air Force One. He remains grateful for his gift of life and now wants to give back. "I would not be here without Gift of Life and the help of complete strangers. Having said that, it makes me very inspired to help other children as well," he saidCopyright 2008 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
