It is thanks to the European Union that Sophie Hervieu-Bronsard’s two sons, aged 6 and 9, are living normally today. They were operated on for a heart malformation in Brussels and Lille. Before the “Kidshearts” program, at the Lille University Hospital, cardiac surgery only existed for adults or only from the age of 9. The others, 250 children per year on average, were most often transferred to Paris. An abnormality. “We are a region with a high birth rate, and not the richest in Francenotes Professor Francis Juthier, head of the program. It was an organizational nightmare for the families, some of whom were just a metro ticket away. We had mothers who sent their babies alone to Paris.” For the most serious cases, in neonatal intensive care, a Parisian team arrived urgently at the Lille University Hospital.
“When you have to wait an hour or two, you find it long, because the child is not wellremembers Ahmed Hadhoum, cardioperfusionist. These are babies in shock, who need a machine to keep them alive because their hearts or lungs are failing. But we weren’t trained for it.” Now he is, with two other colleagues, in this very specialized specialization of cardiocirculatory assistance in pediatrics. Unlike her sons, Sophie Hervieu-Bronsard, 39, lived the years without it: when she was diagnosed, at birth, with “CIA” (for “interatrial communication”, i.e. a hole in the wall between the two atria which disrupts the proper oxygenation of the blood and tires the heart), she had to wait until her ninth birthday to be operated on at the University Hospital. “At the time, I spent two and a half days in intensive care, and my parents were only allowed to see me for half an hour,” she remembers.
A gradual ramp-up of the service
In 2016, the hospital center decided to set up this complex and expensive, but essential, project, relying on the European Union’s Interreg program: “It really is a sponsor of choice, which allowed us to bring together our partners, the Regional Health Agency, the CPAM, and to treat this project as a priority,” appreciates Loïc Berthelot, the director of the Jeanne-de-Flandre hospital, the woman-mother-newborn center of the Lille University Hospital. The EU contributed 1.25 million euros to the financing of Kidshearts: purchase of suitable equipment, upgrading of an operating theater, and above all training of caregivers. Which was done in Brussels, at the Saint-Luc University Clinics for reasons of geographical proximity to the Thalys which takes Lille residents to the Belgian capital in thirty minutes. “We often forget that Lille is on the border,” smiles Loïc Berthelot. Moreover, Kidshearts concerns the entire population area, without taking into account the border which separates the Lille metropolis from Courtrai or Mouscron. 15 doctors and 43 paramedical staff followed these courses.
The increase in power of the service was gradual, first transfers to Brussels for 168 patients, then operations at the Lille University Hospital on less serious cases, then with more serious pathologies: out of the question of running the slightest risk with the children. For her first pregnancy, Sophie Hervieu-Bronsard experienced these different stages. Her eldest does not present any particular problems, the doctors are reassuring: the malformation she had is not a priori hereditary. But for her second child, an ultrasound revealed the same problem as her. In December 2018, his son underwent surgery at three months in Belgium, in Saint-Luc. “We were an hour away, which allowed us to come home every evening. We had the anxiety of leaving him alone, even though we knew he was in very good hands, she testifies. But it was important to breathe. My eldest, Gabriel, was in kindergarten, and we were able to attend our town’s Christmas party with him.” In the process, Gabriel is also diagnosed with a significant CIA. He was operated on two years later, at the age of 6, at the Lille University Hospital. “It was great. Two nurses explained the operation to him with a large Playmobil hospital. He felt safe because he knew everyone, he still remembers their first names. his mother enthuses. More than 320 children have benefited from this support since 2020. Sophie Hervieu-Bronsard applauds: “In this project, professionals moved forward together, for the good of all. For now, Europe is an asset, with a capital A.”
