Stancia
Delightful 8-year-old Stancia is from the highlands in Goroka, PNG. She needed major corrective surgery for an ano-rectal fistula. Her operation was performed in April 2024, followed by 7 minor surgeries, to finally close her stoma. This surgery has been life-changing for Stancia and her mother Hilda.
Read this storyHaggai
Little Haggai, a baby girl from a remote mountain village in Papua New Guinea, came to Australia in the arms of her mother for emergency treatment for a massive facial disfigurement in June 2024. She is one of many children from Oceania whose lives have been changed forever by the work of ROMAC. It was Continued…
Read this storyGabriella
Six-month-old Gabriella was treated in 2020 for a serious heart condition at Auckland’s Starship Hospital in New Zealand. She recovered well from her surgery and is now a happy, healthy child with a great future ahead.
Read this storyVinna
Vinna, from Vanuatu, first came to ROMAC in 2017 and followed a 2-year journey to repair a multiple fracture and infection of her right leg. The final stages of treatment required the insertion of a plate to stabilise the bone graft and Vinna was due to have this plate removed in April 2020. Covid-19 intervened Continued…
Read this storyVincent
Vincent is a Solomon Islands patient who arrived in Australia as a two-month old requiring urgent surgery to correct a blockage between his oesophagus and his stomach. This meant he had to be fed via a catheter into the stomach. Ten months later, after follow-up surgery, numerous hospital visits for day procedures, and constant monitoring Continued…
Read this storyViliame
Four-year-old Viliame arrived in New Zealand from Fiji, bouncing into the country and sprinting about the airport, unlike many of our heart patients who often arrive feeling quite poorly. He needed surgery to treat a coronary arterial fistula – a connection between one or more of the coronary arteries and a cardiac chamber or great Continued…
Read this storyVerzi
Verzi, a fifteen-year-old girl from the Solomon Islands, arrived in Sydney with her carer, Aunt Vedna. She had rheumatic fever in 2015 and now needed the mitral valve in her heart replaced. Verzi had her pre-admission checks at the Westmead Children’s Hospital Heart Clinic, in preparation for her surgery. Her surgeon was Dr Ian Nicolson, Continued…
Read this storyMourine
Mourine, accompanied by her mother Ekila, arrived in Sydney to receive treatment for a large mass growing on her neck and chest. Their home is a small island in the north of the Solomon Islands where they live a subsistence life without modern conveniences, such as electricity. The culture shock on arrival in Sydney, where Continued…
Read this storyRachel
Rachel and her mother Victoria arrived in Auckland, New Zealand from Vanuatu in June. Rachel had a renal condition that needed to be resolved and the renal team at Starship Hospital promptly got to work to treat her. Rachel was accommodated in Ronald McDonald House and was hosted by the Rotary Club of Birkenhead. Under Continued…
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