'Angels' watched over Maui's 'miracle child'
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
The angels are watching over Daphne Kawaiaea.
Anthony Bagio photo
Or so it seems to a Maui family that had watched their 11-year-old child with a malfunctioning heart deteriorate much too quickly. The child survived heart-transplant surgery at Stanford University Medical Center last week.
Daphne Kawaiaea, 11, with her mother, Wallette, and father, Milton, will remain in California for up to six months during her recovery from heart-transplant surgery. Meanwhile, Maui residents are raising money to pay for her family's medical bills.
It's been a roller coaster of emotions for about a month. The ride has taken family members from the despair of uncertainty to the joy of a quick and seemingly strong recovery.
Now, the roller coaster takes another turn as the Hana community rallies to help pay for the family's medical bills.
"We feel so blessed,'' said Pauline Kalama, Daphne's aunt. "Everyone is helping out with fund-raisers and prayers.''
On Saturday, much of the food concession profits at the Hana Music Festival 2002 will go to the family. The first-time event is dedicated to Perry Ka'eo Kaina, a cultural leader who died a year ago in a traffic accident. The festival will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hana High and Elementary School.
On March 16, the Maui Roping Club will have a special fund-raiser at Oskie Rice Arena in Olinda. The all-day fund-raiser will feature rodeo events, carnival games and entertainers such as Hana's own Pekelo, as well as a 5 p.m. steak dinner. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 5-12. Dinner tickets are $8.
For Daphne, a Hana Elementary sixth-grader who participates in organized hula, rodeo and volleyball, the ordeal began when she came home from school in January with stomachaches and vomiting. She appeared to have the flu.
But an X-ray revealed an enlarged heart; further tests showed it was working at only 5 percent efficiency. Her medical journey took her from a Hana doctor, to Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku, then Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu, and finally to Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.
Incredibly, at Kapi'olani, Daphne's heart stopped during a visit to her room by a group of heart specialists — a coincidence that may have saved her life, according to doctors.
And at Stanford, it took less than a week for a heart with Daphne's blood type and size to become available, and doctors said the surgery couldn't have gone better.
"Afterward, the surgeon said, 'You have someone up there watching over you folks,' '' said Kalama, one of several family members who accompanied Daphne to California for her transplant. "And we knew the angels were watching over us.''
Daphne has since been moved out of the hospital's intensive-care unit and is recovering in a private room. She is expected to remain in California for up to six months during her recovery.
"She truly is a miracle child,'' Kalama said.
