Mawarni hopes to be pretty after surgery
Mawarni hopes to be pretty after surgery
Betsy Taylor, Associated Press/St. Louis, Missouri
An 8-year-old Indonesian girl who was brought to the United States by earthquake relief workers to correct her birth defect has a new look - but her same old cheerful disposition.
On Thursday, Mawarni Zega prepared to be released from St. Louis Children's Hospital, eight days after surgery to remove a large bulge from between her eyes. She still has splints on her nose and shaved hair from her operation, but was optimistic that "maybe in the future, I will be very pretty."
Her interpreter, 18-year-old Elwin Zebua, strummed a guitar in her hospital room as the child's relieved mother, Adilia Zega, sat next to Mawarni's bed, lined with stuffed animals from well- wishers.
"She says she can give a big sigh now," Zebua said of the child's 35-year-old mother. "She doesn't have the words to say how grateful, how thankful she is."
The three will remain in the United States, possibly into July, to allow doctors to monitor Mawarni's progress.
Pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Leonard, said Mawarni's splints come off in three weeks, and an examination will be done to ensure there are no complications from the surgery. She also needs to have a kidney stone removed.
In March, an earthquake that shook Nias Island, located off the western coast of Indonesia's main island of Sumatra, partially destroyed the Zegas' house. The quake, while killed about 900 people and left thousands of others injured and homeless, came three months after the Dec. 26 tsunami that left at least 175,000 dead in 11 Indian Ocean countries.
Relief workers arrived to help victims of the natural disaster, but Mawarni's mother approached the doctors about helping her daughter.
Mawarni had an encephalocele, a birth defect caused when a gap in the skull allows brain membrane to protrude, creating an unsightly facial bulge. Dangerous complications such as meningitis can occur if the condition is untreated. Workers decided to help the child.
The Healing the Children and Project Hope agencies, the Navy and the U.S. and Indonesian governments worked together to bring Mawarni to St. Louis Children's hospital, where staff volunteered their time and skills.
The daughter of a rubber tree farmer, Mawarni is the youngest of 10 children from the village of Hilisebua, in the subdistrict of Gido. The Zegas do not have a clear sense of how rebuilding efforts are progressing back at home. Their interpreter said they have not had luck making phone calls to their village.
The child's doctor said treating Mawarni has been a rewarding experience, and his hope is that all the attention to her case will help spark efforts allowing dozens of other children to get medical care they could not otherwise receive.
"My hope would be that the 50th child we treat would get the same interest," Leonard said.