Kids' hearts made healthy

ROBERT S. CROSS / Tulsa World

Dr. Good Deed
Dr. Richard Ranne of St. Francis Hospital examines Euron Zejnullahu, 6, while the boy’s mother, Aferdita Zejnullahu, holds him. The boy, along with another child from Serbia, 3-year-old Flora Cakaj, were flown to the hospital, where their defective hearts were repaired.

A boy and girl from Kosovo visit Tulsa to receive vital care

By NICOLE NASCENZI World Staff Writer
12/4/2004

h3> This holiday season, two Serbian children are able to give heartfelt thanks for their new lease on life.

Three-year-old Flora Cakaj and 6-year-old Euron Zejnullahu recently received life-saving heart surgeries at St. Francis Hospital through the Children's Heart Project.

The Children's Heart Project is a program of Samaritan's Purse, a Boone, N.C.-based Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham.

"It means a lot that the children are healed," Flora's mother, Sevdije Cakaj, said through an interpreter.

Both children were born with holes in their hearts and could not receive the medical treatment they needed to repair the congenital defect in their native Kosovo, a region of Serbia, said Dr. Richard Ranne at St. Francis.

Without the surgery, the children probably would have developed complications later in life and might have died as a result of the defects, Ranne said.

When Euron arrived at St. Francis, he was treated for pneumonia and later had his infected tonsils removed before having heart surgery.

Ranne, a pediatric surgeon at St. Francis, and several other medical professionals donated their services to help the children.

The Children's Heart Program paid for the families' travel to Tulsa and for an interpreter.

Donating the medical services to Flora and Euron did not affect care given to Oklahomans, Ranne said.

Flora and Euron traveled to Tulsa Oct. 25 with two other children.

Doctors found that the other two children did not require surgery, Ranne said.

One child, 12-year-old Arbnor Gashi, did not need surgery because the hole in his heart had repaired itself, and the other child, 7-year-old Jehona Preteni, has irreversible heart and lung damage that could not be helped by surgery.

Those children went back to their home in Kosovo in mid-November.

Flora and Euron were scheduled to travel home Thursday, but Euron developed a stomach bug and was too sick to travel.

The children and their families are expected to leave for Serbia next week.

Debi Lammert, a St. Francis nurse who volunteers for the heart program, will accompany the families back to Serbia.

While in Tulsa, Flora, Euron, their mothers and an interpreter stayed with Regina and Jerry Stall of Broken Arrow.

Regina Stall said she volunteered to house the Serbians through her church, Heritage United Methodist Church. Another church member, Chris Galvin, moved in with the Stalls to help with the guests.

In addition to receiving medical treatment, Flora and Euron were given a taste of American culture.

The children and their families explored the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, celebrated Thanksgiving with the Stalls and made several visits to area McDonald's restaurants.

"You would never know they had surgery," Regina Stall said.