December 15, 2006

Baby Mariam receives life-saving help from MGHfC and U.S. Marines

Nine-month-old baby Mariam's treatment at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) didn't come about in a typical fashion. Her story began in Fallujah, in the Iraqi province of Anbar, approximately 43 miles west of Baghdad. She was born with a rare urological condition known as bladder exstrophy in which the bladder is exposed to the environment outside of the body.

A group of U.S. Marines — including Navy medics Chris Walsh and Eric Valdepenas — were on patrol when they encountered two-month-old Mariam with her mother in Fallujah. Mariam's mother didn't hesitate to seek help from the U.S. soldiers despite their rifles and the language barrier. Seeing Mariam's serious condition, Walsh, Valdepenas and the other Marines stabilized her as best they could, and in the months that followed, they often made trips to her home under the cover of darkness to treat her. But they knew that she wouldn't survive without surgery.


Baby Mariam with members of Pediatric Surgical Services

Before Walsh and Valdepenas could see Mariam receive the surgery that would save her life, they were killed when a bomb hit their vehicle. Members of their battalion vowed to honor their fallen comrades' goal of giving Mariam the help that she so desperately needed.

That help ultimately came from a network of individuals including Capt. Sean Donovan, who consulted MGHfC surgeon Rafael Pieretti, MD, by e-mail from Iraq. "I made the initial diagnosis by looking at photos that Captain Donovan e-mailed me," says Pieretti. "It was a clear case of bladder exstrophy complicated with a rectal prolapse."

From then on a humanitarian effort was launched to bring Mariam to the MGHfC. Pieretti and Capt. Donovan's correspondence led to the involvement of Joseph P. Vacanti, MD, MGHfC chief of Pediatric Surgery; Larry Ronan, MD, director of the MGH's Thomas S. Durant, MD, Fellowship for Refugee Medicine; and Project Hope, an organization dedicated to bringing health care to people around the world. Rev. Marc Bishop, Walsh's battalion chaplain, and Christopher Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, raised support for Mariam's care. The group as a whole coordinated Mariam's and her grandparents' trip to the United States along with her medical care.

In October, Pieretti and Brian E. Grottkau, MD, MGHfC chief of Pediatric Orthopædics, performed the lifesaving surgeries that so many individuals around the world had helped to arrange. A team of MGHfC caregivers including Julie Piotrowski, NP, and Katherine DiMare, RN, BSN, worked with the doctors, and today Mariam has made many developmental advancements. "In just eight weeks, she has fully recovered from her surgeries, and she's gained several pounds and flourished," says Piotrowski. "She's getting close to catching up with the typical developmental features corresponding to her chronological age."

Pieretti adds, "Now a different and healthier girl is ready to return to her country. We hope that she will be able to come back to the hospital to undergo the second stage of her surgical reconstruction. There will be no dry eyes when Mariam leaves the hospital."

In November, when the MGH hosted a dinner for the soldiers and their families, Walsh's mother, the Valdapenas family and five Marines paid a visit to the baby girl who had touched all of their hearts. Meeting with Mariam's grandparents and holding her was a very special moment for all of the guests. Walsh's mother told Mariam's grandparents through an interpreter that her son had been waiting his whole life to do something as special as helping baby Mariam.