Care in any tongue

JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

Alberije Shatri of Kosovo holds her infant daughter, Liralbe, who underwent open-heart surgery at St. Francis Hospital.

Tulsa doctors help save foreign children

By NICOLE NASCENZI World Staff Writer
9/30/2005

h3> Without a recent open-heart surgery, 10-month-old Liralbe Shatri might not have seen her first birthday.

Joined by her mother, Alberije Shatri, little Liralbe traveled from Kosovo to Tulsa for medical treatment earlier this month.

The complicated surgery to close the two holes in her heart could not be performed in her home country, said Dr. Richard Ranne, a pediatric cardiac surgeon at St. Francis Hospital.

The infant is one of three international children who are undergoing treatment at St. Francis.

Liralbe is small for her age, weighing only 11 pounds because her heart problems made it difficult for her to breathe and eat, Ranne said.

Because she used all of her energy to breathe, the brown-eyed infant has not had the strength to crawl or play like most babies, Shatri said, speaking through a translator.

"She was always so sick, and I had no hope," she said. "Now I have hope that she will grow up."

Life is looking brighter for Liralbe. Since the surgery, she is eating more and has gained weight.

Ranne said she will be able to lead a normal life and should quickly reach the developmental milestones she has missed.

The infant was brought to Tulsa through the Children's Heart Project, a program run by Samaritan's Purse, a Boone, N.C.-based Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham.

Twelve-year-old Mentor Maloku, also from Kosovo, recently came to St. Francis to have a hole in his heart repaired, as well.

His procedure did not require open-heart surgery, however, Ranne said.

Through a translator, Mentor's mother, Bahrije Maloku, said her son was born with a hole in his heart and there was no treatment for the defect in Kosovo.

Ranne said the hole prevented Mentor's heart from working efficiently, caused him to be short of breath and would shorten his life span.

Since his heart has been repaired, Mentor, who learned English in school, said he is able to ride a bicycle much farther than before the procedure.

"The greatest joy in my life is getting my son's heart mended," Maloku said.

The Children's Heart Program paid for the families' travel to Tulsa and for an interpreter. While the families are in Oklahoma, Jerry and Virginia Stall of Broken Arrow are hosting them in their home.

Doctors and other hospital employees donated their services for Liralbe and Mentor, said Debi Lammert, a clinical nurse specialist at St. Francis who volunteers for the heart program.

By participating in the Children's Heart Project, Ranne said, the hospital not only is able to help children but also can provide valuable experience for its medical residents.

The residents are able to see procedures that they might not otherwise be able to witness and are better prepared to serve Oklahomans when they have completed their medical residency.

The children and their families will remain in the Tulsa area until mid-October.

Across the hospital, another international child is receiving life-saving treatment.

Doctors in the Republic of Georgia told Manana Chunburidze that there was nothing they could do for her 14-year-old son's brain tumor.

But Chunburidze was not content to let her son Gurami Kordzadze go without treatment.

With the help of several churches, including St. Antony's Orthodox Christian Church and work donated by St. Francis doctors and staff members, Gurami is receiving radiation treatments to destroy the tumor.

"A very grave situation has turned out to be very hopeful," said the Rev. George Eber as he sat with Gurami this week before one of his treatments.

Gurami sported an Oklahoma State University T-shirt and only a small scar on his head.

Dr. Greg Kirkpatrick, a pediatric oncologist at St. Francis, said Gurami's prognosis is very positive and that he will undergo about six weeks of radiation treatment before returning to the Republic of Georgia.