Optimistic Voices
Vital voices in the fields of global health, global child welfare reform and family separation, and those intent on conducting ethical missions in low resource communities and developing nations. Join our hosts as they engage in conversations with diverse guests from across the globe, sharing optimistic views, experiences, and suggestions for better and best practices as they discuss these difficult topics.
Optimistic Voices
The Global Village Unites for a Child: Musu's Story
Sixteen-year-old Musu Sangu faced a devastating diagnosis in Sierra Leone—a life-threatening heart condition requiring specialized surgery unavailable anywhere in her country. With her heart functioning at just 20% capacity and given only a 40% chance of survival, Musu's future looked grim. But what followed was an extraordinary demonstration of global compassion that would save her life.
The journey began at Mercy Hospital in Sierra Leone, where Dr. Aruna Stevens identified Musu's condition using a newly acquired EKG machine. Through the Child Reintegration Center's family strengthening program, Musu already had access to medical care and a dedicated case manager who advocated tirelessly for her. When it became clear that she needed surgery unavailable in Sierra Leone, an incredible network of support mobilized across three continents.
Gary and Mary Ann Gilkyson, who had met Musu during a mission trip, rallied their church in South Carolina to raise funds. The Sick Pickin Foundation connected her with surgical care in India. Staff members at multiple organizations coordinated passports, visas, medical clearance, and financial support. After a grueling journey from Freetown through multiple countries, Musu arrived in New Delhi where surgeons performed her high-risk aortic valve replacement.
Against tremendous odds, Musu made a remarkable recovery. Within a month, she returned home to her family in Sierra Leone. Today, she's back in school, even playing Mary in the CRC Christmas play, while her mother builds stability through a microfinance program.
This powerful story reminds us that when compassion knows no borders, extraordinary things happen. People who had never met Musu—and many who never will—worked together to give her a future. Consider joining this village of support through the Emergency Medical Health Fund, established to help more children like Musu access life-saving care when local resources aren't enough. Your contribution could be part of the next miracle.
Maternal Health impacts child and family wellbeing, and is an indicator of societal wellbeing as well. If you want to support this work, please give to the HCW Maternal Health Mission - Maternal Health Matters!
Helpingchildrenworldwide.org
Through the eyes of children. I'm Natalie Turner, and this is my co-host, melody Curtis.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the show, everybody. Today, natalie and I will be talking with our guest about a child who faced tough challenges life-threatening challenges, actually and the amazing people who helped her. Today's story is especially inspiring.
Speaker 2:And extraordinary. It takes a village moment. Musu was 16 when she was diagnosed at Mercy UMC Charity Hospital in Sierra Leone, west Africa, with a life-threatening heart condition. Musu's condition required a surgical specialist that was not available at any hospital in the entire country of Sierra Leone. Her family could not afford it and without it she would die. But that didn't happen because people were determined to save her life. Let's welcome today's guest, yasmin Vaughn.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me again. Always good to be back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for those of you who don't know much about helping children worldwide, yasmin and I work together and she's one of the regular episode hosts for Optimistic Voices. I'm very excited about this episode. Actually, natalie, what do you think I can't wait to about this episode? Actually, natalie, what do you think I?
Speaker 1:can't wait to hear this story of hope For the people who may be listening to the Optimistic Voices podcast for the first time. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your connection to Moosoo.
Speaker 3:Sure thing. So I'm Yasmin Vaughn. I'm the technical advisor for global health and missions at Helping Children Worldwide. I do a lot of our episodes on global health and ethical missions because those are the areas of my job that I do most of my work in, and Moose's story intersects really well with those areas. I work closely with Mercy Hospital. I also facilitate the travel of our mission teams to Sierra Leone and I also run our Together for Global Health Network, and one of our network members was a big help in this project, one of the helpers we'll talk about.
Speaker 2:Yas, can you give us a little background on this story, tell us a little bit about Musu and her history?
Speaker 3:So Musu Sangu is a 16-year-old girl who was in junior secondary school three, which is eighth grade here in the US. Her family, the Sangu or sometimes called the Dapo family, is in the CRC's program, so they receive family strengthening support from the CRC, they have ongoing case management that happens with them and they receive medical support at Mercy Hospital. So in July of 2023, musu had been having recurring respiratory infections. She was really easily tired, she was having shortness of breath, which are all things that are really uncommon in a 16-year-old girl. She had been seen multiple times at Mercy Hospital for infections respiratory infections but they knew that something more was going on.
Speaker 1:Did they ever figure out what was going on with Musu?
Speaker 3:They did, yeah, more was going on. Did they ever figure out what was going on with Musu? They did, yeah. So Mercy Hospital got a new EKG machine in July 2023, thanks to our collaboration with the Medical University of South Carolina. So while our July medical team was on the ground, Musu was seen by Dr Stevens and the team and they were really troubled by what they found on her EKG and they referred her to a hospital in Freetown for an echocardiogram because there wasn't anywhere in the city of Bow where you could get it. Her family's case manager, Abdullahi, checked in on her a lot during this time and there was a few more months of testing and monitoring. She had to go see another specialist in Freetown and eventually it was determined that she would need heart surgery and this was not a surgery that she could get in Sierra Leone.
Speaker 2:Before we go on, I'm wondering if you could explain a little bit about the people that you just introduced in this story. Dr Aruna Stevens is he part of the HCW medical team, and what exactly is the CRC?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Dr Aruna Stevens is the doctor at Mercy Hospital. Currently he is on leave doing his master's at Tulane University, but at this time, he was the chief medical officer over Mercy Hospital and he grew up in the Child Reintegration Center, which is a facility for family-based care in Sierra Leone. It was an orphanage and was converted in 2016 to care for children and families, so they have a team of social workers and case managers who work with families who are vulnerable to poverty to ensure that they are not separated, and they also help other orphanages make that transition to family-based care.
Speaker 1:With this long period of uncertainty, it must have been really difficult for the family.
Speaker 2:Exactly, natalie. This was a family who was already fragile. I think, though, this is exactly where all those other people come into the story. Is that right, yasmin? This is really the point where the story starts to turn around. Who are the people or organizations that stepped in, and what did they do to help?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the July team members were pretty much the greatest champions of Moosoo Gary Gilkyson and his wife Mary Ann Gilkyson, who travel every July with us, continue to check in with Dr Stevens during this process of her getting her diagnosis. Her case manager, abdullahi, of course, checked with her throughout the process. She made sure that she was taken to the hospital when her symptoms were worsening and even during this time Reverend Olivia, who's the director of the CRC, would pray with her, and at one point Musu shared that she believes that God was in control, no matter what happened next. So the CRC tried a few different ways to seek treatment for her outside of Sierra Leone, but through our Together for Global Health relationships we've become connected with an organization called the Sick Pickin Foundation. Pickin is the Creole word for child, so the Sick Child Foundation, basically, and they work with Sierra Leone children to get them surgery that they need, that they can't get in Sierra Leone. So Ishmael Alfred Charles he's also the country director for the Healy International Relief Foundation is the founder of this foundation and he has connections to an organization in India run by a doctor named Dr Sudin. So he worked with her and they identified a surgeon in India who would do her surgery. So then, once we kind of knew that she could get the surgery and where she could go, we began the process of fundraising and making all of the travel arrangements. The Gilkessons and their church, bethel United Methodist Church in Charleston, south Carolina, raised so much money to support her surgery, and funding was also provided by the First United Methodist Church of Colleyville in Texas. Lusso and her mother needed all the things that we typically do for people who travel to Sierra Leone. They needed visas, they needed transportation, food, passports, medical clearance on top of that. So Linda Reinhardt in our office facilitated the travel arrangements for her to fly to India, and then Charles and the Child Reintegration Center staff did all the paperwork in-country to make sure that she had her. They had her passports and visas and travel money, of course, because they would need money while they were in transit. Dr Stevens did all the necessary checkups to make sure that she had medical clearance for travel. And then, finally, all those people coming together, it made it possible for Musu and her mother, tiange, to depart Freetown on March 26th, which means that we are recording this at the one-year anniversary of all of this happening, which is so exciting to me During this whole process.
Speaker 3:I was most nervous, I would say at this point, about them flying. This was the first time Musu and her mother would be traveling internationally. Musu, of course, was sick, so there were all sorts of concerns about her travel. And then, on top of that, they had a really long journey that they had to fly. So they flew from Freetown to Cote d'Ivoire, from Cote d'Ivoire to Ghana, from Ghana to Dubai and then finally to New Delhi, india. So like many, many layovers and many, many journeys over just a couple of days. But once they arrived in New Delhi, I knew they were in good hands because Dr Sudden was with them the whole time. She regularly sent updates to Charles, who passed them on to us, and we were able to keep up with her progress.
Speaker 1:What an incredible group of supporters, a community, coming together, and what a journey Was she able to get that surgery in India.
Speaker 3:Yes, she did get the surgery, but it was not without its challenges. So on March 29th 2024, we got the exam results from her surgeon, Dr Degar. So Musu's heart function at that time was at 20% out of 100, 20% and she was definitely going to need an aortic valve replacement. The surgery was considered extremely high risk and we were quoted about a 40 percent chance of survival. There was also a possibility that if she did survive, that she was going to need a really long stay in the ICU, which would mean that her and her mother would be away from the rest of their family for a long time. So I was super worried about her and her mother, Tiange. But she really had so many people praying for her because all we could do at that time was pray and hope.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds like a very scary and difficult time for Musu and her family.
Speaker 2:I'm cheating by asking this question because I actually know the answer. This child is better now, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so she was in the hospital for about a month but by God's grace she made a speedy recovery. She was put on a medication that she needed to take for the rest of her life and of course she would need continued checkups to make sure that her heart was continuing to function. Uh, but she went home on May 1st Um, so about a month later. Where is Musu now? So Musu is home now in Sierra Leone with her mother, tiange Uh. She has an older brother named Musa Musu, and Musa uh and her younger sisters are younger sisters are Nata and Aminata.
Speaker 3:Musu continues to go to school. She's a little bit of trouble in school, so in May of last year her and her sister attended some extra classes organized by the education manager at CRC and because of the tutoring she passed her basic education exam and it promoted to senior secondary school at the Queen of the Rosary School in Beau-Cyr-Leon. Her sister is about to sit for that exam coming up soon. Also, last year in July her mother received a microfinance loan to raise animals, and my favorite thing that I know about Musu is that her and her sister were in the Birth of Jesus Christ play that CRC does every year at their Christmas party, and Musu played the role of Mary and her sister acted as the narrator to the play and, according to their case manager Abdoulaye, both of them did really well in those roles.
Speaker 2:What an amazing story of hope for this family and really all the connections between Mercy UMC Hospital and the Child Reintegration Center and the fact that you know so much about this family just speaks volumes about how involved everyone became and in dedication to saving this young woman's life. Yeah absolutely so. Before we wrap up, I wanted to ask our guest and my co-host what's one note of optimism you'd like our listeners to take away from this story, starting with you, Yas.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, yeah. So I just I want to celebrate all the people who made a difference in her story. Her family, of course, was super supportive throughout the entire process. We posted updates to our Facebook and her brother, musa, commented, I think, on every single update to let us know that he was checking in on the progress with his sister. But she also had this huge network of people that were rooting for her.
Speaker 3:I mean I mentioned the Gilkessons, but also the Sangu Family Empowerment Advocates who provide support to her family.
Speaker 3:I mean we're so thankful for people like that, because if they had not been enrolled in the CRC program and were not receiving free medical treatment at Mercy Hospital, it's unlikely that her condition would have been diagnosed.
Speaker 3:So it's just incredible that we were able to be there at the right time and, again, just so many people helped with getting her treatment the staff at the Child Reintegration Center, ishmael Charles and the Sick Pickin Foundation, dr Sudden and then the whole HCW team. Every single one of us played a role in helping her get her treatment. And then there's so many people that I don't even know at Bethel UMC and Colleyville UMC who donated, who prayed for her, who checked in on her progress, who got their partner church representatives to check in with me, her progress, who got their partner church representatives to check in with me. So I guess I would say I'm optimistic because there are so many people out there who worked really hard to help this 16-year-old girl have a future. Most of them have never met her, many of them never will, but they were moved with compassion to care for her and that's what keeps me optimistic about the work that we do.
Speaker 1:Building off of what Yasmin said, my note of optimism from Musu's story is that I want to be in a world where people like those around Musu show immense kindness and care for those that they know, as well as those that they may never meet or may never have a close relationship with or may never have a close relationship with. Musu was able to have a future and flourish after receiving the operation because of this great care, and I love that. Yasmin talked about her faith, musu's faith and the faith of the community how everybody was able to come together and all these people were praying for her able to come together and all these people were praying for her. But she was able to get through this really difficult time because of her deep relationship with God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate all of that and I hope that our listeners have been inspired to look around and see how they can be a part of someone's journey Through kindness or volunteering or simply listening. Small actions make a big difference and some big actions make a big difference too, if our listeners are moved by the story to consider engaging in the Emergency Medical Health Fund that was established recently A year ago as a result of the interaction of all of these people for an extraordinary mission to save one child. You'll find the link to do that in our show notes. We'd invite you to consider becoming part of the team that saves the next child's life.
Speaker 2:At HCW, helping Children Worldwide, we are always talking about the need for family empowerment advocates. These are the people who give just a tiny bit each month so that case managers like Abdullahi can work with families in Sierra Leone and get them into the social safety nets that they need when their lives are threatened. Musu's life would not have been saved but for the existence of family advocates, but we also. We also need individuals and organizations who are interested in taking that next step and investing in a major way for a specific child who is whose life is being threatened in an extraordinary way. As I said in the beginning, this is one of those.
Speaker 2:It takes a village stories, just as there were a dozen organizations and individuals who came together to make this miracle happen for Musu, there are over 30 organizations in our Together for Global Health network, and many of them have stories of children who are struggling and in need of medical assistance, and that's why we established this fund in the first place, for those extraordinary cases that cannot be managed without an entire village coming together. If this story is tugging at your heart, well, I invite you to join us, step into the story and be a part of the solution. Natalie, do you have anything else you'd like to say?
Speaker 1:Thank you, Yasmin, for sharing this incredible story, and thank you, listeners, for joining us today on Optimistic Voices A Child's View.
Speaker 2:If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, share it with friends and leave a review.
Speaker 1:Until next time, remember there's always hope in every voice matters.
