Help! Baby Shalom seeks N7.5m for corrective heart surgery
BABY Omoike Omozokpia Shalom needs help fast. The two-month-old infant was born with a serious heart deformity and requires urgent corrective surgery. According to Shalom’s mother, he requires N7.5 million to undergo corrective surgery at the Apollo Hospital, Chennai, India.
“The problem was discovered at birth,” she recounted to Good Health Weekly in a chat. “When he was born, he was unable to breathe properly, he did not cry out as normal newborns do.
He was born at 37 weeks and 4 days through Cesarean Section. “When it was discovered he could not breathe properly, oxygen was administered to him for close to 10 days. I could not even breastfeed him because he was not strong enough. “I expressed breastmilk and he was fed with it with a syringe through a nasogastric tube. Even now he still is not strong enough to breastfeed.”
Lamenting, she said as a result of the deformity, the baby is always weak, sickly and unable to suckle. “My husband and I have done everything to care for our baby who requires constant care and attention. and we have been running from pillar to post to raise the sum for this surgery.”
“The pediatrician at the LUTH made us to understand that the nature of his abnomalities is quite sensitive, hence he has been referred to the Apollo Hospital Chennai. A medical report from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, stated that clinical evaluation indicated that he had symptomatic congenital heart disease. The report said a diagnosis of transposition of the great arteries along with series of complex congenital deformities, was confirmed through echocardiography.
The report, signed by Dr Ogochukwu Sokunbi, a Pediatric Surgeon/Consultant Paediatrician at the LUTH, recommended that Shalom requires further cardiovascular evaluation and possible open heart surgery to correct the heart defects and forestall irreversible and life thretening complications. READ ALSO: Kwara gets historic accreditation to train resident doctors Shalom has been referred to the Apollo Hospital Chennai, India where doctors are waiting to carry out the surgery. The only hitch is the lack of funds.
Shalom’s parents are in a tight spot. They are struggling to survive and cannot raise the N7.5 million required for the life-saving surgery on their own. They are appealling to kind-hearted Nigerians to help save their son. If you are touched and wish to assist, kindly donate to Omoike Omozokpia Shalom, Zenith Bank 2052022603. You may call 07035151458 for more details. Vanguard
