Posted on: Friday, February 14, 2003

Ill boy gets some real valentines

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

The Loma Linda International Heart Institute has been getting love letters from Hawai'i for the past two weeks.

"We probably get about 10 envelopes a day," says Alyna Taylor, administrative assistant at the Institute.

The envelopes contain donations to the Open Hearts for Children program in support of a Kailua woman's mission to save the life of an 8-year-old boy.

Dorothy Smith and her husband befriended the boy's father on a trip to Bali and became close to the family over the years. The child, Made Dwi Putra, has a congenital heart disorder, tetralogy of fallot, which saps his energy and threatens his life. Though his condition can be corrected with surgery, that level of medical care is not available in his country. Even if it were, Made's family could never afford it.

Smith, who is 71 years old with health concerns of her own (she uses a wheelchair to get around after multiple hip surgeries) found the Open Hearts for Children program at Loma Linda, which seemed to be the perfect answer. Since 1979, the program has provided heart surgery for children from around the world who can't get the treatment they need in their home country. The program operates completely on contributions, and though Loma Linda physicians and surgeons donate their time (and often make monetary donations) to the program, the care of two children from Bangladesh last year depleted the program's money.

Undaunted, Smith set out to raise money for the hospital fund. She's doing a great job. Though donations haven't yet added up to the minimum $12,000 the hospital is looking for, there has been such an outpouring of support that the program administrator is willing to proceed on good faith. Made is tentatively scheduled to arrive at the California hospital on March 24. The Smiths are paying their own way to be there for support.

"The other element of the program is that the children need to have a sponsor who will get them here and help with the care of the child while they're here," says program administrator Susan Krider. "And of course, Dorothy called wanting to be the sponsor for this child."

The envelopes that are arriving at Loma Linda every day contain checks for $25, $50, sometimes $100. Along with the donations, many include sweet little notes like this one:

After all, there are God-sent human beings who still exist on this planet earth like the Smiths. God bless them and this 8-year-old child. I pray for them all. I am not rich money-wise but rich in aloha. Enclosed is my humble donation for fifty dollars. May God bless and heal this child.

Says Taylor, "I get tears in my eyes reading the letters that come through each day."

Donations may be sent to:

Open Hearts for Children, Loma Linda International Heart Institute. 11234 Anderson St., Room 1636, Loma Linda, CA 92354.
(Write the child's name, Made Dwi Putra, on a separate note.)