I Met a Superhero, His Name was Black

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Once in a lifetime we get the chance to meet a Superhero. Our infatuation with heroes spans to the beginning of mankind. We love to imagine the world being protected by superhuman beings able to conquer injustice. Sometimes the world just seems so unfair.

I met a Superhero. No cape, no special suit of armor; just a man. In passing you would see a very mild-mannered, physically fit man; not outwardly extraordinary. If you were to speak to him, an air of assurance and confidence would exude. No mention of the special talents he possesses… humble. His power is not measured in brute strength, it is measured in millimeters. His forte is manipulating very small objects and the room for error is zero. He has the ability to make life or death decisions. His name is Dr. Black.

Dr. Black saves children. He is the man you want to meet if your child’s heart has a problem.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

My name is Ian Welch. I write a blog, WholeFed.org, in which I outline my experiences since my quadruple bypass surgery in 2011. I have written a book describing the power that exists in harnessing a chronic disease diagnosis and I preach a foundation of well-being built on plant-based nutrition. I write columns regularly promoting the need to control your own destiny and be cautious of doctors and medication (Stanford Scope, A moose no longer). However, surgeons fix things. They deal with the present, not the past. I love surgeons.

Black is a heart surgeon who specializes in repairing birth defects. His arrival in 2011 at the Children’s Hospital at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach marks the start of the hospital’s long-sought pediatric open-heart surgery program, a milestone for Palm Beach County. - Palm Beach Post

When Dr. Michael Black operates, the world is reduced to a tiny heart, slender surgical instruments, a camera, a screen.

When they undrape the baby, I think, wow, look at those tiny hands, those little feet. While you’re operating, all you see is the heart, and it seems enormous through the scope.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

click picture to visit Dr.Black’s website

In a career spanning more than 17 years at hospitals in Canada as well as San Francisco and Palo Alto, California, Black says he has operated on thousands of tiny babies’ hearts, and was among the first to use arthroscopic techniques, using a small incision through the sternum, rather than splitting the rib cage.

I met Dr. Black at the gym in my building. Dr. Black had just moved to Florida from California and once he noticed the 16 inch scar down my chest we established a commonality. We spoke on several occasions and both of us felt we wanted to do more.

I asked him once if he felt like God, being able to save lives. He responded: “I am not God, but perhaps one of his instruments…”

So we started the My Little Heart Foundation as an instrument for philanthropists to participate.

Our goal is to locate children that do not have access to the life saving techniques Dr. Black offers. The foundation has no budget. Dollar in dollar out, no middlemen.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

My Little Heart Foundation on WordPress

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

We exist solely to help children that cannot help themselves.

To extend a hand to children who face life threatening congenital heart defects and do not have access to world-class medical facilities.

Life or death situations in which our intervention changes destiny.

Fund the intervention from: home to hospital to home.

Simply…to save a child’s life and rewrite their destiny.

We are not professional fund-raisers and our marketing budget is non-existent by choice. We seek a singular donor per child, able to absorb the costs of a round trip with destiny.

We are ready to get started. If you have the ability to save the life of one child; whose outcome is death without intervention, please reach out to Dr. Black or myself. Your involvement can be full on or arm’s length.