Irene: found at school, treated at 13

Irene is the eldest of three children. At school her teachers noticed that she was always quiet and never joined physical exercise, because she tired so easily. She was often unwell.

Her frequent illness put a strain on the whole family. It fell to her mother to keep looking for an answer to what was wrong.

In 2017 a team came to her school to vaccinate the children. They saw that Irene was not well enough to be vaccinated and told the family she needed to see a doctor. That referral led to a diagnosis of Tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of heart defects that needed surgery.

The family could not afford the cost of treatment. Irene's mother sought help from Dr. Glory, a paediatric cardiologist at Bugando Medical Centre, who linked the family with volunteers from The One New Heart Tanzania.

We introduced Irene's mother to HeartGift, which took up her case. Together the partners sponsored her surgery at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute in Dar es Salaam on 14 December 2020.

Four years on, Irene is 17, living in Mwanza and in form two at ordinary secondary school. She attends regular check-ups at Bugando Referral Hospital. Read the update in After Irene's heart surgery: four years on.

Irene was found by chance, by a vaccination team. Our screening camps exist so that finding a child does not depend on chance.