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 The
Yolanda Joseph Story
You'll recall Yolanda Joseph with her mother
Yolette. Yolanda is three-and-a-half years
old and just as cute as her picture shows. But she was born with a heart defect known as
Tetrology of Fallot.
The first time I saw her was at the end of October. Without heart surgery
she will die, possibly within a few months.
Anderson, Indiana pediatrician, Ron Beahm flew to Haiti last month in part
to evaluate Yolanda. He concurred on Yolanda's condition.
We quickly began preparations for Yolanda to fly with her mother and father
to Indianapolis. The Timmy Foundation and American Airlines were extremely
helpful in this process. The day before we went to the American Embassy in
Port-au-Prince to get the required visas, Yolanda's father collapsed and died
within minutes.
Although
obviously shocked, Yolanda's mother made our appointment with the embassy and on
Saturday, April 30th flew from Port-au-Prince to Indianapolis. The family they
are stating with reported Saturday night that "They arrived here last night at
about 9:30 PM. Yolanda locked eyes briefly with our 5 year old daughter, Sarah,
and gave a little smile. She was tired and went to bed right away..."
The morning of May 1st, we received troubling news: "Yolanda collapsed on
the floor and was having real trouble breathing...My wife, Lisa held Yolanda and
prayed, while I called 911. She was limp and blue. The paramedics came and got
her to St. Vincent's Hospital. Her O2 saturation was 58% That was after being on
O2 on the way to the hospital in the ambulance. They have checked into the
hospital and will both stay there tonight. They surgeon will be evaluating her
today or tomorrow."
The evening of May 1st the report is: "The surgeon administered the
Echo-cardio-gram. More tests will be done tonight and tomorrow, but we expect
they will stay there until she has had the surgery. On oxygen, her O2 saturation
was 72%, she was smiling and seemed to be feeling better."
May 2nd: Surgery tomorrow AM 8:30-9:00 will last till
at least 12:30pm. Will probably really go till 2 before much is known.
 May 3rd, 6:35 PM: (From the host family
in Indianapolis) Yolanda's open heart surgery went as to be expected. She'll be
in intensive care for 2 days and this is critical. Please pray her heart heals
as it should, that there would be no hemorrhaging and that she would breath on
her own. Right now she was in a sedative-induced sleep. They are weaning her
from that so she will gradually wake up. As she wakes up, they will determine if
she will breath on her own. If she can they will stop the sedative. If she can't
they will keep her intubated and sleepy.
 When
they came to take Yolanda to surgery this morning, the mother cried for the
first time as she placed her hand on top of Yolanda's head with her eyes closed.
I told them she was praying and they waited until she was finished until taking
her. Very precious to witness. The mother is doing well. A very nice man, Mr.
Rick Land, who was a missionary in Haiti for 10 years interpreted for the mother
for the afternoon. Something about him put her at ease and I had never seen such
peace on her face. She opened up and talked to him quite a bit. Turns out, this
nice gentleman is my parent's age and knew them from a while ago. I was blessed
to have spent some time with him as I'm sure Yolette was also.
May 4th:
(From the host family in Indianapolis)
Yolanda is doing wonderfully well. She had her
breathing tube removed last evening and has moved out of ICU to the main
pediatric floor today. This is way ahead of schedule and quite exceptional.
She's not smiling yet as she just had a painful surgery, but her mother's face
showed obvious relief that all was going well. Yolanda even asked for a banana
this morning and ate without problems.
The woman who
flew (along with her husband) with the Joseph's from Haiti to Miami and the
pediatrician who evaluated her in Haiti along with his wife visited her today.
How humbling to be a part of a wonderful team of people who assisted Yolette and
Yolanda ranging from the missionary in Haiti and the people who assisted over
there, the Timmy Foundation and volunteer coordinators, the doctors who
graciously donated their time and skills, the nurse practitioner who coordinated
her care, St. Vincent Hospital's charity, the many translators to the many
people who have been and are praying.
May 5th: If Yolanda's chest x-ray and echocardiogram
are normal tomorrow, she may be leaving the hospital as soon as Sunday. She is
doing exceptionally well.
May10th: Yolanda is out of the
hospital and home with her host family in Indianapolis. They report "The
smiles are many. Yolanda is very active and doing very well. She even ran a
little. Amazing!"
May 12th: From the host family
in Indianapolis: "Yolanda and Yolette went with Lisa and our girls to piano
lessons. they seemed to enjoy getting out. Yolanda is doing nicely, and Yolette
appears to be happy with her progress. We found out that they both love chicken!
Yolanda naps less each day, and she is enjoying our girls. playing in the sand,
swinging, drawing, coloring and riding in the toy car seem to be hits. We are
enjoying having them here as well..."
May
13th: From the host family: "Yolette called her family tonight and of
course, she appreciated it and enjoyed talking with them. She is such a
pleasant woman. Our communication with her has graduated from one word
sentences to occasional 2-3 word sentences. She has patiently taught us
correct pronunciation, waited patiently for us as we flip through the
dictionary and laughed with us as we learn. She has even spoken some
English. We made homemade pizza tonight and that was a big hit. Yolanda is a
different child than the one that arrived not two weeks ago. Pictures at
this time are quite a blur as Yolanda is on the move!"
June
4th: from the host family: "We had to take Yolanda back to the doctor
today. My 9 year old and I noticed she was becoming increasingly short
of breath today. The doctor evaluated her in his office and consulted
with two of his partners and admitted her to the hospital immediately.
She is to be in the hospital and monitored over the weekend and will
need to have another open heart surgery Monday or Tuesday (if it's the
Lord's will that He not miraculously heal her heart over the weekend).
The patch that repaired the "hole" in her heart has loosened. The mother
is over the initial shock and is thankful that this happened while she
was in the States rather than in Haiti."
June 6th: from the host family: "The
echocardiogram results for our little Haitian guest were
inconclusive this afternoon. The doctors have decided they need to
wait and see and observe one day at a time. They continue
to draw quite a bit of fluid off of the immediate outside part of
Yolanda's lung (probably due to a not unusual complication of open
heart surgery). But right now the evidence isn't strong enough to
indicate a need for another open heart surgery. Nor is it strong
enough to completely rule out that option. We choose to find this
encouraging, so please pray for continued healing for Yolanda and
wisdom and discernment for the doctors.
We know there are people across the United States and in Haiti who
are lifting this situation up in prayer. Mrs. Joseph is aware many
are praying for them and is grateful.
James 5:16b "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish
much."
 June
23rd: My first opportunity to visit Yolanda was the morning
after our arrival in Indianapolis on June 10th. A
second surgery was necessary due to a problem in which the patch
over the hole between the two ventricles in the heart became
loose and ineffective. Within two days, Yolanda was up and
around again.
The following Friday my entire
family had the opportunity to visit Yolette, Yolanda, and the
host family in their home near Indianapolis. What a blessing it
was to be able to see Yolanda run and play in the yard with the
other children. She is certainly stronger than I have ever seen
her. Please continue to remember her in prayer as her body
slowly gains strength.
I feel the need to say one thing
at this time simply from my heart. The host family, whose names
are not written due to privacy issues, is so very important in
the whole process that Yolette and Yolanda have just come
through! These people have opened their home to total
strangers, taken on a very important part of the care given to
Yolette and Yolanda, truly came to love them and showed it in so
many ways, and sacrificed much of their personal privacy,
possessions, and time to see Yolanda become a whole person. In
ten years Yolette and Yolanda probably won’t remember who I am,
who “The Timmy Foundation” was or even what important part in
their lives St. Vincent Hospital was. But know that they will
never forget this family who took them in and simply showed them
a great deal of love for a short time. Thank you friends. You
are such a great example for us to follow.
A tentative date for Yolanda's
return flight to Haiti has been set on July 7th. I
will try to keep you updated on the website as further news
comes to my attention.
 July
7th: The Indianapolis host family for Yolette and Yolanda
takes them to the airport for their return to Haiti. Yolanda
seems delighted but her mother is wise, knowing the conditions
and lives they return to in Port-au-Prince. Yolanda is
physically healed--saved from a certain young death.
August
28th: I made an appointment to meet with Yolette and
Yolanda Joseph at the home of a friend in Petionville last
Tuesday, August the 16th. They were both happy
to see me again in this more familiar setting. Physically,
Yolanda looks great. She now walks around with no sign that
she was ever sick. I had my stethoscope along with me so I
listened to her heart. There is still a faint sound of a
murmur but that is only to be expected after all her heart
had been though.
 As
we talked Yolette reminisced about how she loved her time in
the United States and especially the great relationship she
had with the Meskos, her host family. She also verbalized
how thankful she was to God for his gift of Yolanda’s
life. She went over again for us the frightening time when
Yolanda passed out on their first morning in the States and
how she knew through that experience that God was working in
their lives.
I think this will probably be a
final report on our little friend who walked so close to
death at such a young age. I hope to continue to see her
occasionally but I think it’s probably time for her to get
on with her life with her renewed heart. What a blessing it
has been to be a small part of this miracle story. I want
to again sincerely thank all of you for your prayers,
thoughts, and concern for little Yolanda. This was not an
easy thing to help orchestrate. Without your prayers this
certainly would never have ended as such a happy story.
John Ackerman
 UPDATED!
Yolanda Now 6 Years Old & Doing Well
 You'll
recall that John had arranged for little Yolanda to come to the United
States for heart surgery in order to save her life. Read the full story
here. John provides this update from a recent
check-up:
I had the opportunity to meet again with Yolette and Yolanda Joseph late
last year and for those you who are interested here are a few more recent
pictures. Yolanda is still doing well and growing just like a six year old
should grow. Yolette is struggling as any single mother struggles. There
are some of us here that try to help her out so she can send Yolanda to
school each year but other then that she is getting along just fine.
When I ask Yolette about her time since returning from the States for
surgery she responds with thanks to God for bringing people into her life
who are concerned about her problems. She still thinks about the loving
care that Yolanda received at the hospital but mostly she is so grateful for
the Mesko’s, the family that kept and supported Yolette and Yolanda while
they were in the States. They were such a positive example of a self-giving
Christian community.
It was a blessing to be part of such a happy ending story.
John
UPDATED (January 2010)
I am happy to tell you that all the Josephs are alive and
kicking. They did lose their entire house in the earthquake
though. I haven't actually seen them but I have friends that
see them regularly and they are very positive about their
situation. I did get a thousand of disaster funds that will
help them to rebuild their tiny home.
Thanks for keeping up to date on this fine family. They
were one of the really fine families to pass by me during our
time here. And thanks for being such an important part of
Yolanda's healing.
Blessings,
John Ackerman
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