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Bulawayo Bureau
WHILE many women celebrated Mother’s Day yesterday, Brenda Netsianda faces a bitter-sweet moment. Her one-year-old son, Adriel, has been diagnosed with a heart condition called tetralogy of fallot, which requires urgent surgery.
Adriel has already passed the time frame for the surgery, as he turned one last month on April 26.
He has a hole between heart chambers, a narrowed blood vessel and has to undergo corrective surgery.
The Indian hospitals that have surgeons with the required expertise are demanding between US$7 000 and US$10 000 for the corrective surgery, which the family cannot afford.
The family has to raise between US$15 000 and US$20 000 to cover accommodation, air tickets and other expenses.
Adriel also has a cleft lip, but corrective surgery was deemed too risky due to his heart condition.
The family has managed to raise US$2 500, which is a sixth of what is needed to save Adriel’s life. They are appealing for help to raise the remaining funds so that he can have a normal life like his peers.
The operation was supposed to be done before Adriel turned one. Every beat of his fragile heart weighs heavily on Brenda who watches him constantly, fearing complications. As he grows, every cough or discomfort sparks worry.
“My only wish is for my son to be healed and this can only be done through surgery in India, and then we can live a normal life. My pregnancy was normal and everything seemed fine when I did the first ultrasound scan. The second scan only picked the cleft lip and nothing about the heart condition,” she said.
“When Adriel was born, he had a cleft lip and when a paediatrician came to examine him, he said something was wrong with his heart. We did a heart scan and that is how we got the diagnosis. The doctors advised that we do the operation before he turns one because once he becomes mobile, that may worsen the situation.
“We are appealing for help so that our son can have a normal life like his peers, that’s all we pray and wish for every day. The fact that he has a cleft lip and pallet also affects his nutrition, but that facial defect cannot be corrected until he has surgery. We are grateful for the help we have received since we first publicised this.
“From the quotations that we did, the cost of this critical operation has been set at between US$7 000 and US$10 000, excluding accommodation and air tickets, which all in all get to around US$15 000 depending on the hospitals.”
Their expected stay in India is a minimum of four weeks depending on how the child would be responding. Bulawayo specialist paediatric cardiologist Dr Davidzo Murigo-Shumba, said the baby required corrective surgery, which could only be performed outside the country.
“The baby has a heart condition called tetralogy of fallot. There was a problem when his heart was forming and it resulted in the condition. The baby needs an operation to close the hole in the heart and to make the small pipe bigger. It is highly recommended that the operation be done before the baby turns a year old,” she said.
Well-wishers can use the following banking details:
Mashudu Netsianda FBC Bank nostro account 0420247140715, Jason Moyo Avenue branch, Bulawayo. ZiG banking details 3020247140714, FBC Jason Moyo Avenue branch, Bulawayo. EcoCash number 0772398585 Mashudu Netsianda.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter