Christian: the grandmother who carried him to treatment
Christian was born in Ndolage village in October 2015 and raised by his grandmother Victoria, a matron at the village dispensary.
Christian was born on 29 October 2015 in Ndolage village. His mother, Mutesi, was still at school, so she left him in the care of her own mother, Victoria, who was 63 and worked as a matron at the village dispensary.
Christian kept getting pneumonia, and his nails had a blueish colour. At the age of two he was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of heart defects.
Victoria's salary was about USD 65 a month. Treatment was out of reach.
The One New Heart Tanzania introduced Victoria to HeartGift, which sponsored Christian's heart surgery at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute in Dar es Salaam in October 2020.
Victoria did not live to see Christian treated. She died of a heart attack two months before his surgery. We remember her as the person whose care carried him to that point.
Christian's grandmother worked in health care and still could not afford his treatment. Cost, not knowledge, was the barrier. That is the barrier our treatment support exists to remove.
Published with the family's written consent.
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