PORT-AU-PRINCE- Six-year old Woodley Elysee, a resident of a small Haitian village, will join the returning Israeli delegation onan El Al flight home Thursday. It will be the boy's first time on an airplane, and he says he is very excited.
Woodley is suffering from four different heart defects, which keep oxygen from circulating properly through his body. If he does not undergo a complicated surgical procedure he will in all probability not reach the age of 10.
But an ambulance will be awaiting him at the airport in Israel, in order to transport him directly to Wolfson Hospital in Holon.
"Two months ago they sent Woodley's heart echo test from Haiti to us at Wolfson, and we decided that he had to be operated on," says Dr. Yuval Levy, who ran the premature baby ward at the field hospital established by the Israeli delegation to Haiti.
"But until now he could not be brought to Israel. The medical team succeeded in finding him here and we are bringing him with us to Israel. In the coming days he will undergo the surgery he needs at Wolfson."
Woodley will arrive in the country with help from the Save a Child's Heart (SACH) organization, which is based in Wolfson and for many years has been bringing children with fatal heart abnormalities to Israel for complicated surgical procedures.
"If he remains this way, without surgery, he will not survive until age 10," Dr. Levy says. "Even today he cannot go to school because his heart can't handle the walk." Woodley will be accompanied by his aunt.