Today marks an important anniversary for Nanjing-based charity, Hopeful Hearts. For 31 October would have been the 18th birthday of the boy in whose memory the charity was formed. His passing, however, has enabled life-saving surgery for hundreds of babies.
It all began on Friday, 8 November, 2002. Two foreign ladies, Helene and Mira, were in a car passing Baima Park in Nanjing when Helene spotted against a tree by the side of the road a baby wrapped in a red blanket.
Writing in her diary, Helene said, “Meanwhile 2 pedestrians had stopped and were looking at the baby without taking any action. Because we had a car, we decided to take the baby along and take it to a doctor. In the car we discovered it was a little boy. He had a note on his breast with his date of birth as well as ¥30. The date of birth was written in Chinese characters as well as the western date. The small child was very quiet and continued sleeping. Mira and I have passed that tree many times since then”.
With it being lunchtime and no one available at either the clinic nor the orphanage, Helene decided to take the baby home and look after him until he could be taken to a doctor later that day and registered with the authorities.
Helene’s children soon came home from school. “My youngest daughter asked, ‘Does he have a name yet’? And I answered no! She had a good look at the little chap and said; I think ‘Loetje’ is a good name for him. As of that moment he was Loetje to all of us”, wrote Helene.
Coincidentally a volunteer at the local orphanage, after much deliberation Helene was permitted to visit Loetje as often as she wished. “It’s all going very quickly and it is also very confusing. And on the other side it’s not… In one weekend I all of a sudden feel as if I am the mother of an additional child.”
But Loetje was to soon fall ill, and upon Helene’s next visit, she discovered him in the sick bay with an intravenous infusion attached to his forehead and on oxygen for his breathing. Loetje had been diagnosed with some kind of a heart condition, but could not been seen by a cardiologist for some 2 months.
This was too much for Helene to take. Through friends and their contacts, she managed to have Loetje examined professionally by the end of November. Loetje had two holes in his heart. While likely to heal naturally, any infection could be life threatening…
Of Dr. Kong, the cardiologist, Helene wrote, “He refused to accept money for the visit to the orphanage and said, ‘if you foreigners are willing to help our children, what should I ask for’?”
It was during this time that the group of volunteering foreign ladies discovered there were 10 other children at the orphanage who also had heart problems.
They took the decision to form “Hopeful Hearts”.
Despite the best efforts in the world, Loetje passed away on Wednesday, 1 January, 2003, having been given the Chinese name, Shi Xuesong, meaning, “picked up under a snow-laden pine tree”.
Helene’s full diary entry can be read here, and donations made to hopeful hearts via the QR code below.
Hopeful Hearts is legally incorporated under the umbrella of the Amity Foundation, which manages the charity’s finances, ensures legal compliance and interfaces with Hopeful Hearts’ partner hospitals. Fully 96 percent of all funds raised is used solely for the medical costs of children supported. Only 4 percent is used to cover administration costs by the Amity Foundation.
