UNBLEIEVABLE SAD day in Haiti... UPDATE on lil girl with eye problem...

The Haitian toddler whom area residents hoped to bring to Delaware for treatment of a malignant eye tumor died in a hospital in Haiti.

 Melissa Chery was hospitalized in Port-au-Prince with a fever as authorities were trying to secure passports and emergency visas for her and her mother, Adimine Exile, to leave the country, said Lynn Shapira, a co-founder of the Haiti Family Initiative.

The organization, founded last year after the country was hit with a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, has operated a summer camp and health and wellness clinic there for two years for Haitian women and children.

Herline Raphael, of East Stroudsburg, Pa., -- a registered nurse and founder of Helping Hands and Beyond -- traveled to Haiti last week with plans to bring the girl back to Delaware for treatment.

Shapira said she saw the girl Tuesday before returning to the United States.

"[Raphael] said that the tumor had visibly grown and that Baby Melissa had a fever and was being treated with antibiotics," Shapira said.

While Raphael was on her way back to the states, the toddler died.

Shapira does not know the exact cause of her death.

"Herline put so much into the effort ... and worked non-stop in trying to save her life," she said.

Shapira's and Raphael's organizations, along with the Haiti Delaware Alliance, founded by Shapira's husband, thoracic surgeon Dr. Nadiv Shapira, had organized their services to try to save the life of the toddler.

Three local hospitals -- the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Christiana Hospital and Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia -- had made commitments to provide medical care for the child on a charity basis.

"It makes our mission that much stronger knowing that there are so many other Baby Melissas in Haiti that need our help," Shapira said.

 

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☼ REST IN PEACE BABY Melissa Chery!!.☼
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