Weighing 39 pounds and crippled by a devastating heart condition, 9-year-old Melvin Trujillo was left for dead by Salvadoran doctors.
But thanks to a two-year effort by some Boston University students with big hearts and even bigger fundraisers, Melvin received the surgery he desperately needed to save his life.
Members of the Rotaract Club, part of the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, began raising money two years ago for a case like Melvin’s. The group, a community service club dedicated to national and international service projects, raised $5,000 to fly Melvin to Boston and sponsor his operation.
Four days after his arrival, Melvin underwent open-heart surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston. He was released last Friday.
“I want to play baseball, study, go to school and help my mom do chores around the house,” Melvin said in Spanish while sitting on his mother’s lap, his hair beneath a BU hat and his slight frame wrapped in a Buzz Lightyear T-shirt.
Melvin and his mother, Maria Amaya, moved into a Bay State Road apartment donated by BU on Feb. 9. They will stay in Boston until doctors declare Melvin healthy enough to fly back home, said Rotaract adviser and Sargent professor Karen Jacobs.
Amaya, 32, says she feels like she is taking home a new child.
“When we finally left [the hospital], some of [the nurses] were crying,” Amaya said in Spanish. “They said to me, ‘I want to take him home with me.’ They grew attached to him.”
Melvin’s heart was so weak before the surgery he could not go outside and play soccer with his friends, attend school or help his mother. He was born with Tricuspid Artesia, a birth defect that occurs when the right side of the heart does not develop, leaving the child with only one working chamber. Approximately 5.5 million children born with Tricuspid Artesia in under-developed nations are awaiting surgery, according to a Rotaract press release.
Amaya’s worst nightmare was realized when Salvadoran doctors told her they were powerless to save her son. A doctor advised Amaya to put Melvin on a waiting list for heart surgery in the United States.
Amaya contacted Gift of Life, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that helps underprivileged children receive heart surgery. Although Rotaract did not specifically pick Melvin to receive funding, Gift of Life used the club’s donation to save him.
Amaya arrived in Boston on Jan. 28 with her 3-foot-4-inch son in a wheelchair, Jacobs said.
“We saw him [the day after the surgery], and the purple out of his lips were gone,” Jacobs said. “The red out of his eyes were gone. It’s unbelievable.
“He has the most sparkling smile and glowing eyes,” she continued. “[Nurses] fell in love. Everybody is in love with him.”
Amaya said she is grateful for the attention she has received. Rotaract members and Latinos from the BU community visit them at their apartment every day.
“It has been a great and beautiful experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives, even more so for him, because he could have never dreamt of coming to a country like this,” she said. “Now that he was operated, he says, ‘Mommy, I want to be a doctor to cure other kids’ hearts.'”
The Rotaract Club sought to raise $10,000 for Gift of Life through bake sales, rose sales and other fundraisers, according to a Feb. 8, 2006 Daily Free Press article.
The group hopes to establish a trust fund to help Melvin collect money to attend school back home, Jacobs said. The group also plans to sponsor the next Gift of Life child as soon as possible.