The Gift of Life Comes to Montgomery

             Through the generosity and efforts of members of the Rotary Club of Montgomery/Rocky Hill and Robert Wood Johnson Hospital staff, thirteen-month old Alastair Christian Edwards of Trinidad received the gift of life-saving heart surgery in early March.  “Baby Alastair,” as he is fondly known, was born with a severe congenital heart deformity. When he arrived in the United States at the age of just over one year, he was in heart failure and weighed only eleven pounds. Through surgery performed by the skilled and dedicated doctors of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, that deformity is a condition of Alastair’s past; and, after spending six weeks in Montgomery (and the hospital), he has grown to weigh over fifteen pounds, and returned to his native Trinidad a healthy and active baby.

             Alastair came to Montgomery with his mother Lystra, an elementary school teacher, under the auspices of the “Gift of Life Program,” a worldwide Rotary International Service Program.  The primary purpose of “Gift of Life” is to help needy children who require corrective heart surgery through the miracle of open heart surgery in a participating hospital in the United States.  The program supports children throughout the world, including some in the United States.  It is implemented through local Rotary clubs that provide the necessary financial support for the program.

             The effort to bring a Gift of Life child to Montgomery was spearheaded by Rotarian Dave Demme, the Club’s International Director who has also organized local support for several other international relief efforts such as Pedals for Progress and funding to earthquake victims in Pakistan.  “As important and exciting as our Club’s international efforts have been, I really wanted the Club to support a program that brought our humanitarian aid efforts very close to home.  The experience of holding Baby Alastair and seeing the look in his mom’s eyes go from despair to joy over a mere span of six weeks is a feeling that even the most eloquent of our Club members couldn’t describe!’’ exclaimed Dave.

             Rotarian Mary DeCicco and her husband John Wallmark generously hosted Alastair and his mother in their Montgomery Township home. Dave Demme coordinated the local efforts of many other Rotarians and local families who reached out to Alastair and his mother in full support of all of their needs. Mary and John, together with other Rotarians and their spouses, such as Keith Wheelock, Georgia Whidden, Gene and Denita Gaillard, were responsible for transporting Alastair and Lystra to and from the hospital for countless pre- and post-operative procedures, and medical appointments.

              “Lystra could barely contain her gratitude, but in the end, John and I know that we are the ones who lives have been forever changed for the better for having played a very small role in making this surgery possible for Alastair,” said Mary.  “We also had a lot of help from our Club members, starting with Kip Higgins of Belle Mead Garage who loaned a jeep so that Lystra and Alastair could be picked up after arriving at Newark Airport during the only major snowstorm of the year – to Lisa Youngberg who arrived on our doorstep laden with all the things babies need such as diapers and formula – to Rotarians who delivered meals – and, of course, our Club President Michael Tofano who made sure that Lystra and Alastair got to experience New York City before returning home to Trinidad,” added Mary