JOURNEY FELLOWSHIP CHURCH IN SLIDELL HELPS MONGOLIAN GIRL RECEIVE LIFESAVING HEART SURGERY

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ With a big support of Journey Fellowship Church in Slidell, a three-year-old Mongolian girl Suvd-Erdene, "Suvda", now can receive lifesaving heart surgery, reported on nola.com website, May 13. Suvda has been diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). TOF is a congenital heart defect that results in low oxygenation of the blood. The single surgery needed to repair her heart is not available in Mongolia. Suvda will be the 23rd child treated through HeartGift Foundation and Samaritan's Purse's Children's Heart Project at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. The surgical team, led by LSUHSC Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Joseph Caspi, is scheduled to perform the surgery at Children's Hospital on Friday, May 16. Children's Heart Project coordinated travel and made arrangements for the group to stay with a local host from Journey Fellowship Church. Margaret Mitchell-Butler of Mandeville will team with other church members to provide food, lodging, transportation to medical appointments and emotional support for the family during what could be a challenging experience. "Journey Fellowship Church is honored to be the host church for Suvda as she visits the North Shore and receives her medical care. Our prayers and love are with her and her family in Mongolia." Lead Pastor Doug McAllister, Journey Fellowship Church Suvda's surgery was made possible by donations to HeartGift from the E.J. and Marjory B. Ourso Foundation, the Steven Leuthold Family Foundation and the generosity of close to 100 individual donors. One in every 100 children around the world is born with some form of congenital heart disease. In Louisiana, Children's Hospital routinely takes care of American patients, regardless of their ability to pay. In the majority of the world, however, there simply is no access to this specialized medical care.