UMC Shadowing Day 1 (7/14) || Siana Scheidegger

Today was the official start of our 16G mission trip! I was extremely excited and grateful to be starting off the trip with the Heart Ceremony. This ceremony extended thanks to MEMO’s partners– Cardiac Life Foundation, Vinacapital Foundation, and Heartbeat Vietnam– who work in tandem with MEMO to sponsor and coordinate heart surgeries for children with congenital heart disease. This year also celebrated MEMO and our partners being able to carry out 100 heart surgeries. It was so inspiring to hear previous heart surgery recipients express their gratitude and share how they are now able to pursue their passions with a healthy heart. During the ceremony, the UCI Dance Team performed our gala dance for the attendees which was so much fun to be a part of. I hope through our dance we were able to connect with the children and make them smile. After the ceremony we interacted with 8 of the kids and their families, which helped us better understand how our surgeries make a difference on a personal level. I was extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to see our hard work and dedication come to fruition through meeting the families we were able to help. Starting our mission trip with this ceremony was truly beautiful and reminded me of the importance and impact of all the work we do in MEMO from putting together a Gala, contacting sponsors, and fundraising throughout the year.

Once the ceremony concluded, we took a quick lunch break before returning to the hospital to begin shadowing. For the first day I was assigned cardiovascular surgery which was both intense and fascinating, especially while watching the patient’s hearts beating during the operations. I was very thankful to have Dr. Phung in my shadowing group, since he was very knowledgeable about cardiac pathology. We were able to observe two different open heart surgeries– a radial artery coronary graft and an aortic and mitral valve replacement. I was also grateful for the OR providers who were very kind and willing to answer our questions when they were not occupied.

This day was a meaningful and eventful start to mission trip, from hearing about the lives changed from heart surgeries made possible by MEMO and our partners to watching complex heart surgeries being performed. Being able to meet the heart surgery recipients and their families was my favorite part of the day and made me look forward to all the orphans, students and patients I would have the privilege of meeting and serving throughout the rest of mission trip.

Open Our Hearts Ceremony group photo of MEMO, our collaborators, and heart surgery recipients and their families.

Heart surgery recipient sharing words of gratitude and his future aspirations.

UCI Dance team dancing our hearts out at the open our hearts ceremony!