Carlens is a 10-month-old boy who lives with his parents, brother, sister, and grandmother in Haiti. His father is a schoolteacher, and his mother stays at home with the family. Carlens likes playing with his crib toys and having his family sing to him.
Carlens was born with a cardiac condition called patent ductus arteriosus. With this condition, a hole in the heart that normally closes shortly after birth remains open. Blood leaks through this hole without passing through the lungs to obtain oxygen, leaving him sickly and weak. Carlens also has Down syndrome.
Surgery is required to close the hole in Carlens’s heart. For $1,500 in funding from Watsi, Haiti Cardiac Alliance will provide the overseas preparation and transportation required for Carlens’s surgery. Health City Cayman Islands has donated $5000 to cover the costs of surgery and post-operative hospital care at their medical facilities.
“I am excited for Carlens to have this surgery so that he will have more energy and stop getting sick so often,” shares his mother.