Watoto tuliowasaidia
Walisema ni uchawi. Mama yake akampeleka kwa daktari
Catherine was three months old when her mother noticed that something was wrong. She was breathing much faster than a baby should. Feeding tired her out and made her sweat, and she was not growing the way other babies did.
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From heart surgery to heart art
Scarlett was born in May 2016, the only child of her mother, Jane. Today she is a healthy girl who paints, and one of her paintings hangs in our office.
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After Irene's heart surgery: four years on
In 2017 a routine vaccination visit at school revealed that Irene had Tetralogy of Fallot. Four years after her surgery she is 17 and at secondary school in Mwanza.
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Adventina: a two-day train journey to surgery
Adventina was born in Kibondo, Kigoma Region, in 2008. She was chosen for surgery in the United States, but the pandemic closed the borders, so her surgery happened in Dar es Salaam instead.
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Rayhan: surgery in India and a hard recovery
Rayhan's heart problem went unnoticed in infancy. His family, from Uganda, faced financial hardship, a long journey and a serious complication after surgery.
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Faith: our first patient, a month away from home
Faith Barakaeli was five years old and our first patient when she travelled to Raipur, India, for heart surgery in 2020.
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Shuwana: seven years from the first signs to surgery
Shuwana Hamdun was born in 2013. Her family went from hospital to hospital for almost seven years before her heart defect was found and treated.
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Tariq: a mother who trusted what she saw
Tariq Ramada was born in Ilemela, Mwanza, in 2015. His mother suspected a heart problem long before anyone confirmed it.
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Jacelyne: no more heart clinic
Jacelyne was born with a heart defect. Two years after her procedure her mother sent us the news every family hopes for: no more heart clinic.
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Adim: spotted by his grandmother in Zanzibar
Adim was born in Zanzibar in December 2016. His grandmother noticed the early signs, and a surgical camp in Dodoma gave him his operation in July 2021.
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Joyline: treated in India with our travel support
Joyline Gama received her cardiac treatment at Narayana Hospital in Bengaluru, India.
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Ivannah: two operations, one strong mother
Ivannah is a girl from Dodoma who was born with a complex heart problem and needed two operations. Today she is in Standard One and enjoying school.
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Afra: almost four years from breathing problems to a diagnosis
Afra was born in Karagwe District, Kagera Region, in May 2015. It took almost four years for her heart condition to be found.
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Daniel: from a district hospital in Mahenge to surgery in Dodoma
Daniel Maji was born healthy in Mahenge, Morogoro Region, in April 2017. At three he began to suffer repeated pneumonia, and that is how his heart problem was found.
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Elisha: a duct that should have closed
Elisha Joseph had a patent ductus arteriosus, a blood vessel that should close after birth but did not. It was holding back his growth.
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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.
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Siham: a girl from Kenya treated in Dodoma
Siham Aden was four when a severe cough led to an echo and a diagnosis of PDA. The operation she needed cost more than her father could find.
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Irene: found at school, treated at 13
Irene Frederick is the firstborn of three from Mwanza Region. A school vaccination team noticed she needed a doctor, and that visit changed the direction of her life.
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