Esther was born in Nigeria on September 23, 2013. Just 6 weeks after birth, she fell ill and was diagnosed with a large PDA, pulmonary hypertension, pailet and floating ribs. She had frequent convulsions until the age of 5 years. The pailet could not be closed because of the congenital heart defect. Esther’s parents took her regularly to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital to get compounded medications, echocardiograms and x-rays. She was always admitted to the hospital when she was convulsing. She did not ever sleep well. Now that her heart has been healed, she sleeps very well, feels much better and is happy.
Rob Raylman is the Chief Executive officer for Gift of Life International. He assumed this role in 2008.
Rob is a life-long resident of New York State. He graduated Hobart College in 1984 with a BS in Political Science. Over the years, he worked for US Senator Alfonse D’Amato and held the position of Vice President for Browning-Ferris Industries (at the time, the second largest international solid waste company in the world). In 2008, Rob created the position of CEO for Gift of Life International. Since then, he was visited 38 countries on 5 continents to build the Gift of Life Global Network of 84 affiliates. During Rob’s tenure with Gift of Life International, 30 affiliates have been created while over 35,000 children have received care for their heart defects.
Rob focuses on strategically building bridges between Gift of Life programs, foreign Governments, Rotary Clubs and Districts, like-minded organizations and hospital administrations in order to address the Global Crisis of congenital heart defects.
