Degenhardts update local Rotarians

By Scott Dionne
Public relations officer
    The Houlton Rotary Club devotes a lot of time and energy to supporting causes throughout our area, but the group also acknowledges the importance of national and international goodwill. Working with Rotary International, the club donates funds to assist student exchange programs, the global eradication of polio, and the availability of medical devices, especially wheelchairs, to third world countries. Recently, Houlton Rotarians learned of another local organization making a difference worldwide.
Picture courtesy of Mike and Deb Clark
WORLD CLASS SPEAKERS — Taking a moment after the Rotary presentation were, from left, Houlton Rotarian Ed Degenhardt and his wife Dawn, daughter Joy My Lien Degenhardt, and Fred Grant, Houlton Rotary Club president.
    Dawn Degenhardt, the wife of longtime Rotarian Ed Degenhardt, spoke at the club’s July 14 weekly meeting, highlighting the work of the foundation she started with family and friends several years ago. The Degenhardt Foundation has its roots in the adoption of children. To date, Dawn and her staff have placed more than 4,000 children across the globe.
    In recent years, the foundation has expanded how it approaches its mission of improving life for children and families worldwide. Dawn has been working with her adopted daughter Joy My Lien Degenhardt on humanitarian aid projects in Joy’s home country of Vietnam. Joy came to the United States in 1972 and grew up in Houlton. After graduating from college, she returned to Vietnam and was overwhelmed by a desire to help the suffering children she encountered. Today, Joy lives in Vietnam; and by teaming with other groups, she and the Degenhardt Foundation have established libraries, built hospitals, and created Pediatric HIV units across her native land.
    Joy also addressed the Houlton Rotary Club at the meeting. She and her mother opened minds and hearts during their emotional discussion of an illness known as hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus, commonly known as water on the brain, rarely impacts the lives of Americans, but plagues thousands of Vietnamese children. The condition occurs when the clear fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), accumulates in the brain. If left untreated, the condition will cause a child’s head to expand up to four times its normal size, resulting in tremendous pain for the victim and eventually ending in death.
    Hydrocephalus is most commonly treated by surgically inserting a shunt system between the brain and abdominal cavity. This system uses a catheter to divert the flow of excess CSF from the central nervous system to the abdominal cavity where the fluid is absorbed into the body. The cost of this procedure runs about $2,000. Though the cost for treatment is low by American standards, the average Vietnamese family cannot afford treatment for a child. The average household makes only between $500 and $1,000 per year.
    According to the Degenhardt Foundation, several thousand children in Vietnam are suffering from hydrocephalus and have little hope for survival due to lack of funds for treatment. Together, Dawn and Joy have walked through “dying rooms” filled with children tormented by the pain of hydrocephalus.
    The Degenhardt Foundation has embraced the hydrocephalus epidemic and wants to make a permanent impact in Vietnam. Working with the Vietnamese government, the foundation has acquired land in CuChi, just 40 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, where it plans to build a hydrocephalus clinic. The clinic will provide preventative and corrective surgery, regular care, along with family training and support. The foundation needs an additional $170,000 for planning, building, equipment, and staffing before opening the facility and ensuring its sustainability. If you wish to learn more about the Degenhardt Foundation’s projects or want to know how to make a difference in the lives of Vietnamese children, please visit the foundation’s Web site at www.degenhardtfoundation.org.
    The Houlton Rotary Club meets every Monday at noon at the Church of the Good Shepherd’s Watson Hall.