The Nation Newspaper

Tag: hole in the heart

  • Teacher couple search for N4m for their hole-in-the-heart baby

    Teacher couple search for N4m for their hole-in-the-heart baby

    A TEACHER’S reward is in heaven, many say. But when two poorly-paid teachers – husband and wife – have a one year-old baby with a hole in his very frail heart, the bewildering task of saving towards raising the N4 million needed for their son’s medical treatment is more exacting than a Sisyphean ordeal.

    The father, Gafaru Agunbiade is a teacher at Government Primary School in Dobi, a village in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory. His wife, Adejoke is also a teacher at a privately-owned primary school in the same area. They got married on December 11, 2011. Daniel their little son who now wearily fights for survival is the second child of their union.

    The medical diagnosis obtained at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH) after a series of tests and scanning indicates that the little boy suffers from ventricular septal defect – a condition commonly described as ‘Hole in the heart’. Among other observations, the medical report notes dilated left atrium and ventricle, dilation of the main pulmonary artery and impaired diastolic function.

    Loss of weight, lack of energy, substantially waned stamina are among the very obvious indications of an ebbing life energy in the little boy. He was born on October 17, 2016. Few months thereafter, Daniel’s condition had become a huge source of concern for his parents. The congenital heart condition was ascertained in an Echocadiogram test conducted at the UATH’s Department of Paediatrics on July 18, 2017 when he was seven months old. Copies of the relevant documents were verified at the hospital.

    For the two teachers who are his parents, the heartache and feeling of helplessness go beyond description. Absolutely, pain has seized little Daniel’s increasingly puny body and his parents’ incessant prayers and sorrowful lamentations of their sad situation has not yet seen the manifestation of helping hands that can reach out and rescue their little boy.

    “We have been fasting and praying in faith but we are now very worried about Daniel’s weakness as a result of the hole in the heart. In God’s name, I plead that anyone who feels touched by my plight should please donate through my UBA account number 1015292631,” his father, 38 years old Gafaru Agunbiade stated on bent knees. More worrisome to the parents who barely manage to get by with their poor earnings is what they described as a humongous bill for treatment of Daniel’s condition.

    Appealing to well-meaning Nigerians for urgent assistance towards enabling surgery in either Israel or India as recommended by doctors, Agunbiade stated that while their salaries can hardly sustain the family, doctors had told them that they would require at least about N4 million for foreign medical assistance to rescue their child from the debilitating heart condition.

    According to the British Heart Foundation, the nature of little Daniel’s medical challenge is: “Congenital heart means a heart condition or defect that develops in the womb, before a baby is born. There are many different types of congenital heart disease. For example, a baby’s heart valves may not be properly formed or there may be holes between the chambers of their heart.”

    In developed countries, the condition of many babies diagnosed with congenital heart disease can be successfully corrected with surgery, but some tend to be more serious and sadly, some children do not survive the challenge.

    In a country like Nigeria where the infant and maternal mortality rates are worrisome, poverty exacerbates the crises for a countless number of families.

    Currently, with about 67 deaths in 1, 000 births, Nigeria has the thirteenth worst infant mortality rate in the world – sharing an infamous grouping of blighted fortunes with twelve countries, including Afghanistan, Niger, Somalia, Chad, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Facilities for the treatment of serious medical challenges such as congenital heart disease are extremely hard to come by and the required funds for foreign medical attention tend to be out of the reach of many.

    Today, the decision as to whether the two teachers’ baby, Daniel survives or not may just be in the hands of some compassionate persons they had never met.

    • To assist send contributions to:

    UBA Account No. 1015292631

    Name: Gafaru Agunbiade

  • Lagos 2015 baby of the year survives another heart surgery

    The 2015 Baby of the Year in Lagos State, Miss Oluwajomiloju Goodness Ogundimu has returned from India after undergoing another successfully heart surgery.

    Ogundimu, who was diagnosed with a heart defect at birth, had lost her mother Sherifat, a chartered accountant to the cold hands of death four minutes after her delivery.

    Her grandmother, Alhaja Afolake Ogunnoiki, who has been caring for her, was with her on Tuesday in Alausa to thank the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode for also sponsoring the child to India for the second time to undergo the surgery.

    “We were in India, where we were referred to for an operation. Before we could not go for the second operation, the child (Oluwajomiloju) was not doing well like in the past. If she eats, she would vomit. I spent all I had on various medical tests.

    “I discovered that she was not growing and developing normally. After one year, I was praying fervently to God not to allow our father, Governor Ambode forget us. Then I got a call that we were going to India for an operation, it was like I won a lottery because I had nobody except God.

    “In India, we were supposed to spend only three (3) days, we discovered that the child had developed tissue again, which is another hole in the heart. I became so perplexed because I don’t know anybody in India, but I was assured by the doctors there.

    “But I am amazed and full of thanks because as the Governor was called, he gave his approval within 24hours for the operation to be undertaken. We were there for eight days.

    Ogunnoiki, was full of thanks to the Governor for picking interest in her granddaughter’s challenges.

    “I am just a child of an ordinary farmer. I am not a politician, I don’t know both Governor Ambode and his wife personally. I have never met them personally; I have only seen them in photographs on papers and television screens.”

    She said the child will be due for another surgery in August next year saying that the doctors have assured that it would be the last operation to finally correct the heart defect.

    “I am appealing to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode because that would be the third and final operation. I saw others who also came and had theirs.

    “The child was named Oluwajomiloju from when she was six months old in the womb by her late mother. She is Governor Ambode and Mrs. Ambode’s daughter, God only said I should be the one to nurse her for them.”

     

  • Parents seek support for baby with hole-in-the heart

    Parents seek support for baby with hole-in-the heart

    When his parents called at The Nation’s corporate head office to plead for assistance on behalf of their 15 month-old son, Muktar Owoseni, it was with a reluctant demeanour.

    His mum, Mrs Bashirat Owoseni, explained that the boy, who was born with jaundice, started showing complications when he was three months old. His medical report obtained from the department of paediatrics and child health, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital reads that Muktar was diagnosed with symptoms suggesting of Down syndrome and heart disease.

    “We did an x-ray when he was three months old which showed he has a hole-n-the heart but the doctor said for them to know the extent of the hole, there was a need to do an echo scan.  Last year July when I took him for medical checkup, he was admitted into the hospital and another scan revealed a big hole in his heart,” said Mrs Owoseni.

    The medical report also states that owing to the size of the hole, the surgery cannot be done in Nigeria and thus advised the parents to seek surgical correction in India.  When his medical report was scanned to India, the total amount of money pegged for the surgery alone is $7500, with accommodation and other expenses bringing it to a total of $ 12, 200.

    The boy’s father, Mr Muhammed Owoseni, a business man said he was forced to reach out to people on the pages of newspaper after stretching all his financial limits.

    “We were told to do the surgery before he clocks one but now he is a year and three months old and we have not been able to put the money together. The little we have has been spent on hospital bills and medications. We have gone to the Lagos State Ministry of Health and other Muslim organisations but we have not been able to receive any money from them,” the embattled father lamented.

    Donations for Mukhtar can be made to: 3099692758- First Bank.  Account name: Owoseni Mukhtar Owolabi. His parents can be reached on 08033755636

  • Now, I want to become a doctor, says hole-in-the-heart boy rescued through surgery

    Now, I want to become a doctor, says hole-in-the-heart boy rescued through surgery

    MUBARAK OLANREWAJU, remember him? He was the four-year-old boy with a hole in the heart, whose story we published earlier. After a seemingly hopeless battle to save his life, he is back on his feet after visiting a hospital in India, running and playing with his mates.

    His dream to become a medical doctor, severely threatened by the ailment, is alive again. “I want to be a doctor when I grow up”, Mubarak told a crowded room of well-wishers last week.

    And he decided to thank Nigerians who rose to the call to save his life by paying a visit to the head office of The Nation during the week.

    Looking gay and smart in a T-shirt over a pair of jeans, one needed no medical certification to know that he had been handed a new life that changed his fortune from a burden on his parents to a blessing, just as his Arabic name suggests.

    The first sign that all was not well with the little boy had emerged in February, 2012. His father, Abiodun Olanrewaju, said: “We first noticed that something was wrong around February 2012, when he started complaining of tiredness. I was surprised that such a small boy would complain of tiredness.

    “We went to Mercy Hospital on Lagos Island, from where we were referred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). At LUTH, the consultant told us that our son had a hole in the heart. She counselled us, saying that it could be corrected if we had the money for surgery. She said we would need about N2.5 million for a surgery in India.”

    For the petty trader parents whose income was barely enough to take care of the family’s basic needs, raising the sum of N2.5 million looked every bit an impossible task.

    “We did not know where or how to raise the money. But we remembered the advice the consultant gave us; that we should appeal to Nigerians to come to our aid. We also shared the problem with family members, one of whom advised us to approach the Lagos State Government for assistance.

    “The government heeded our appeal and took the case to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). The government also released the sum of N700, 000. Another tranche of N800, 000 was released later, making a total sum of N1.5 million. ”

    But while the search for more money continued, the family was thrown into more misery, as Mubarak developed another ailment. At a point, the medical team almost lost the little boy while they battled to unravel the mystery behind his ceaseless and severe headache.

    Olanrewaju recalled: “On December 1, 2012, Mubarak started complaining of headache. It got to a point that we had to go back to LASUTH. He was immediately placed on admission. He was discharged the following day and given some drugs.

    “Three days later, another test was carried out, where it was discovered that the surgery had to be done quickly. He was admitted again on December 11, 2012. We almost lost him on December 12, as his condition deteriorated.

    “After a scan was carried out on his head, it was discovered that he had abscess in the brain. He was placed on admission for two months to drain the abscess from his head.”

    At this point, several other issues that threatened Mubarak’s future emerged. There were uncertainties about his ability to see or walk. Olanrewaju recalled that the situation was so bad that some of his friends walked up to him and told him it was better to let the boy die instead of wasting so much money on him.

    “They wondered why we wanted to waste so much money. But why would a father allow his own child to die?” he queried?

    In the midst of all this, Mubarak comforted his parents by insisting that he would not die. “He always told us that he would not die,” the parents recalled.

    After a campaign championed by The Nation, the sum needed for the surgery was raised, and Mubarak, accompanied by his father, headed for India.

    Olanrewaju said: “We finally left for India on February 10, 2013. But before we left, the boy could no longer see, and we were told that he was going blind. But the real problem that now confronted us was that the bulk of the money we received for the surgery had gone into treating the abscess.

    “Upon arriving in India, we spent another six weeks treating another ailment. The doctors then placed him on a new drug, which they said would help in battling the infection. He took three doses every day, and each dose cost N4,000. He was on this drug for 30 days.

    “At a point, we ran out of money, but God was merciful.”

    The waiting period ended for Mubarak and his family on June 12, 2013, when he was wheeled into the theatre to correct the hole in his heart. For the more than one year that the problem started, nothing would compare to what Mubarak’s father felt the minute his little son was taken away from him to be prepared for surgery.

    His only solace, however, remained his faith in God and his ability to withstand the pangs of dry fasting. “I went into fasting accompanied with serious prayers. At a point, one of the coordinators in the hospital advised me to break the fast and eat. He reminded me that I was the only person around the boy, and that he needed me to be alive,” Olanrewaju recalled.

    To underscore how worried he was, he kept the news of the surgery to himself, not letting the wife, who was in Nigeria, know the details until three days after the surgery had been successfully done.

    He said: “I could not tell her about the surgery. We spoke every day, but I didn’t let her know when Mubarak was taken into the theatre. The surgery lasted for about four hours. But I cannot really tell you how I felt or what was happening to me until they had finished.”

    Be it as it may, his worries were over when the surgeon emerged from the theatre and stretched his hand to congratulations the distraught him.

    “The surgeon came out and said congratulations!. He also asked me to go to the ICU ward to see my son. I went in and saw him breathing. At that stage, I simply went on my knees and started praying. I couldn’t even tell his mother about the surgery until three days after, when I was sure that it was successful.”

    Mubarak sat between his parents as they rolled out loads of gratitude to all those who had heeded their cries, particularly the Lagos State Government, which Olanrewaju said had changed his opinion about governance in Nigeria.

    He was also full of praises for the media for rising to the challenge of leading the clamour for help to give little Mubarak the chance to live.

    “I thank Nigerians who helped us to keep Mubarak alive. In particular, I want to say a big thank you to the Lagos State Government for coming to our rescue. This has really changed my opinion about governance in Nigeria.