Toulouse: Coming to Toulouse to have heart surgery, Angenie is welcomed by this couple from Cugnalais
Christian and Régine Célié opened their doors to Angénie, a three-and-a-half-year-old Malagasy girl, who came to Toulouse to undergo heart surgery at the Purpan children’s hospital.
“She is very lively and very endearing. Despite her young age, she already has a strong personality! “laughs Christian Célié. Angénie, three and a half years old, brightens up the daily life of this 69-year-old Cugnalais, and his company Régine, 67. On November 7, thanks to the “Chaîne de l’Espoir”, an association aiming to improve access to care for vulnerable people, the little girl, originally from Madagascar, reached the Pink City in order to undergo a heart operation at the hospital. Purpan children’s hospital. In time to get back on her feet, Angénie finds refuge with Christian and Régine Célié, seasoned volunteers from the Toulouse branch of “la Chaîne de l’Espoir”. These funds welcomed the little girl upon her arrival at Toulouse-Blagnac airport, which did not, however, really go as planned.
An eventful arrival
Angénie had to be hospitalized urgently due to a kidney infection, postponing her heart operation for a few weeks, and thus prolonging her medical stay in France. The retired couple stayed at the bedside of the little girl until the latter could return home, ten days later.
And it was only a month and a half after her arrival, on December 29, that Angénie was able to benefit from the long-awaited operation. ” Everything went well. She recovered well. I am impressed by the resilience of Angénie, because it was a heavy operation, ”slips the sixty-year-old.
From now on, Angénie is spending happy days alongside her foster parents, until she can return to her country of origin, once her convalescence is complete. “We do a lot of games, we go for walks because she loves it. She is learning French at breakneck speed! Angénie is very affectionate, she got attached to us, too. The starts are always a little hard, ”says the Cugnalais.
But the main thing for Christian and Régine, who welcomed a child from “La Chaîne de l’Espoir” for the fourth time, is to “see Angelina heal as quickly as possible and return to her family”.
Angénie’s development, which is still monitored at the children’s hospital, is encouraged. The little girl should thus return to her Malagasy lands at the beginning of February, taking with her some tender memories of her Toulouse host family. “My wife always writes a report of the child’s stay for her parents. We slip photos, and some gifts for the family, ”smiles Christian Célié.