Coming together to save Delcardo

Julie Denton was living in Haiti as a missionary when she first met baby Delcardo and his mother.

She and her family have been missionaries in Haiti for 35 years and opened an orphanage, 22 churches and three schools.

As she was bringing children from an orphanage to a local hospital for exams, she was approached by a woman holding a baby. Both were in tears.

The mother was desperate for help, having camped out at another hospital for three weeks previously, looking for help for her son to no avail.

“The day I had met her, she had been at that hospital for three days and hadn’t gotten any help yet,” Denton said. “She was persistent in trying to get me to help her.”

Denton said she prayed with the mother and son, and invited them to come live at the orphanage. Delcardo’s mother chose to give custody of the young child, who was born with a malformation, to the orphanage.

Delcardo was born with a congenital foregut duplication cyst, a very rare condition that made him appear to have an enlarged tongue. Delcardo’s case is possibly the largest ever recorded.

His condition made it extremely difficult for the 6-month-old child to eat or even breathe.

Denton began calling children’s hospitals for help, but everything kept leading to a dead end until she met Enterprise resident Ladair Sanders.

Sanders was in Haiti with another group of mission workers from Refuge Church in Enterprise.

Sanders asked if he could send a photo of Delcardo to local ear, nose and throat doctor Mike McQueen.

“I said OK, but I knew he wasn’t a pediatric doctor and didn’t work at a children’s hospital, so in the back of my mind I thought, ‘Well that’s nice’ but I didn’t think anything would happen,” Denton said.

However, McQueen contacted Denton the same day and told her he would forward the picture and information to head pediatric doctor Dr. Brian Wiatrak, of Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

“It was a miracle to me because I had contacted so many children’s hospitals and so many doctors,” Denton said.

Wiatrak and five other doctors agreed to help Delcardo free of charge.

In less than a month, Denton was in Birmingham with Delcardo for surgery on September 6, 2012.

Delcardo’s tongue was drained so doctors could find the source of the problem and complete tests.

“It actually ended up being very, very rare. He had an extra upper core gut. When you’re in the womb you form a lower core gut, which forms your stomach and then you have an upper core gut, which forms your tonsils and tongue,” Denton said. “He had this extra one and it just filled up with fluid. So what you thought was his tongue wasn’t the only problem. It went all the way down his throat.”

Denton said Delcardo’s case was so unique, the doctors wrote manuals about his case so if another child has a similar condition, doctors could reference Delcardo’s case.

After three surgeries, Delcardo went home with Denton to her home in Tennessee.

Denton shared Delcardo’s story with her sister, Tina Bell, who told her she was reluctant to see Delcardo have to return to Haiti.

“She had only met him twice, and that second time, she just felt like he was part of her and she didn’t want to leave him,” Denton said.

Bell and her family, who live in Ohio, chose to adopt Delcardo.

Since then, Delcardo has made a full recovery from his surgeries and shouldn’t need any further operations.

Denton said only God could have brought the right people with the right compassion together at the right time to help Delcardo.

The Bell family recently traveled to Enterprise with Delcardo, who is now 18 months old, to celebrate their son Josh’s graduation from the Refuge School of Ministry, and a reunion with the McQueen family.

“I know that only God could have connected us to Dr. McQueen who had compassion, because to so many it’s a job and it’s not about compassion and being able to help the helpless. I know that God connected us with the right one that had compassion and helped him to connect us to Dr. Wiatrak,” Denton said. “Only God could have done that, so I just give him all the praise and glory and know that it’s just a miracle that he works.”