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Romania, 2005
Epilogue: Saving Lives Every Day
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (May 16, 2005) - It's clear from watching just a few days of the Acuson Cypress echodoppler
in the hands of pediatric cardiologist Dr. Alin Nicolescu that the device has changed the way he approaches
his little patients every day.
Instead of having to send the sick children on a long journey to another clinic for an echo exam, and not knowing
the abilities of the person who might be doing the test at another hospital, and then waiting for the results to come back,
Dr. Nicolescu can now look deep inside the tiny hearts of his patients right here, right now, and tell the child's parents the news
that they are waiting so anxioiusly to hear.
It is a luxury for Dr. Nicolescu to finally have a device that is taken for granted in most of
the rest of the modern world, but he doesn't see the echodoppler machine as something that is "his." He sees it as a long-awaited gift
to the children of Romania.
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AUSTIN, TEXAS (November 17, 2005) - Dr. Nicolescu sent an eMail today with an update on the echodoppler and his little patients:
"Everything is quite okay here. The machine is now part of my hands. It is the best thing that happened to me in my latest years. Thousands
of thanks are not enough. I've seen more than 1,000 children (using the echodoppler since May). For some of them was an important step to
their surgical treatment, for some other was a happy moment because they came with a wrong diagnosis and because of the quality of the
equipment I could tell them there is 'No Problem.' For some others, unfortunately, it allowed me to confirm a difficult malformation. I have a new room
for the echodoppler, it is very modern."
Hearing this news makes the three-year wait that it took to get the echodoppler for Dr. Nicolescu worthwhile. Still, I can't help think about
the other children, the ones who came to Bucharest during those three years who did not get a chance to benefit from Dr. Nicolescu's expert hands and the machine, and
the other basic supplies that the clinic needs on a daily basis to give the Romanian children the same level of healthcare that we expect for our children
here in the States.
Gift Of Life International's mission in Romania does not end with the delivery of an echodoppler machine. Far from it. If today
is like most days at Clinic Fundeni in Bucharest, Dr. Nicolescu will come to work and find ten to twelve sets of parents standing
in the clinic's hallway, holding their tiny, sick babies, and waiting for the doctor that they've been told to come to Bucharest to see, the one
who can look inside their child's small heart and tell them the truth about their future. Gift Of Life International is a 501(c)(3) non-profit,
tax-exempt charity. If you're an American taxpayer your support for this cause is a charitable contribution. Any amount will help move
us toward their goals, and no contribution is too small. Please, write to Gift Of Life International
chairman Bradley N. Stanton today and he will
tell you what you can do to help.
-- Donald Winslow
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