#BeKindBeCool From Africa to New York Rotary Kindness saved a boy’s life
64 Video Views·Apr 9, 2026
Gabor Karsai, a Rotarian and Encore President Elect,
shared a life saving Story he witnessed on 3/28/2026-
an African boy was dying with the heart valve problem and traveled to NY with the help of Rotary International, Rotary Foundation and through Rotary Club’s Gift of Life Program his heart was totally recovered after Doctor’s heart work on him.
Hi, my name is Gabor Karsai.
I'm a past district governor of District 7255,
which is Long Island, New York,
and I'm also president-elect of my club.
So we met Angela in the PALS,
preparing for our year.
I want to share a story with you,
and this story is about Milton.
Milton is an African boy,
a young African boy,
and their parents noticed that
he's not running as fast as he used to,
he's not playing with the other kids anymore,
and then he has even difficulties walking.
And his condition was really bad,
so they of course seek doctor's advice,
and they found out that he has a hole on his heart,
and the doctors told the parents that
if he's not taken care of,
he might not survive.
And the problem was that
in Africa, where this boy was from,
heart surgery of this kind is not available.
So the parents were desperate to find a solution,
and that brought them to Rotary and Gift of Life.
And through Gift of Life and the Rotary Foundation,
this little boy ended up in New York,
in St. Francis Hospital,
and he was operated on by Dr. Lustra.
I was privileged to be in the operating room when this happened.
So I met the boy, Milton,
before the surgery.
His eyes were rolled up,
he was just looking at the ceiling,
he could hardly hold up his head.
He was very, very weak and very sick.
The operation was a catheter operation
where they go up on the groin
and through the groin in a vessel,
and they open an umbrella in both sides of the hole.
And the recovery from this kind of surgery is very fast.
So the next day,
I visited him in the Ronald McDonald house
where he was staying with his father,
and I brought him a ball.
And he was running up and down the stairs,
he was playing with the ball,
he was impossible to hold down.
And his father told me,
what did you do to my son? I can't handle him anymore.
He was a ball of energy and happiness,
and he was fixed for life.
And this happened because of Rotary, obviously.
Rotary's international reach,
Gift of Life's organization,
the Rotary Foundation's money, matching money,
and some of the good people that take advantage of all this.
So this is just one little example
of the millions and millions of kindnesses
that happened internationally by Rotarians
with the help of the Rotary Foundation
and the Organization of Life.