Heart patients celebrate the gift of life

Current and former pediatric cardiology patients, their families, and the doctor who touched their lives all gathered in the Jamaica Hospital Auditorium on Valentine’s Day for a reunion.
“It gave parents the opportunity to meet other parents who face the same problems,” said Dr. Jayendra R. Sharma, director of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Jamaica Hospital.
More than 50 patients attended, with ages ranging from five days to 18 years old, all of whom have been treated for a heart problem.
Sharma and his team treat eight to 10 complex heart defects each year, in addition to numerous smaller structural defects of the heart.
Having worked with many of these children for most of their lives, Sharma said he enjoyed seeing them outside of the traditional office visit and watching them run around like normal kids.
The event offered a magician, cotton candy, balloons, games, and a few heartfelt moments.
An 18-year-old woman, who Sharma has been treating since she was 10 years old, offered a special tribute to him.
“She was living in Ecuador when she was diagnosed with complex heart disease,” Sharma said. “She was told she needed a heart transplant to survive when her father brought her here.”
He continued, “That’s how I came to know her. She didn’t have insurance; I helped her get everything done. We did the surgery, and now she’s 18 years old and going to college.”
Sharma said the event was a success, and that he receives great satisfaction in changing a person’s life. He added that he hopes the reunion will become an annual event.
“It is fun to work with kids in general, but much more fun to work with kids with a heart problem,” Sharma said. “I work with them for a long-term basis, following them for 10, 20, or 30 years, so I get to watch them grow up.”