I have been remiss in not telling you about some special
friends of mine in Uganda. I like to
call them the “Cardiac Kids”! The
amazing part about these kids is that we identified them all in the last few
weeks that we were in Uganda. Most of
their care was coordinated before we left, but a majority of their work up has
been accomplished since we have been gone.
Our work in Uganda is not finished!
We are working through our local friends to continue medical clinics and
TOP care for our special friends. Our
team was actually in Rakai, on a road trip, for medical clinics this past week.
They will be in Gaba for more clinics
next week. Please keep them in your
prayers.
Now let me tell you about the first two “Cardiac Kids”.
The first of these “That One Persons” is Kenneth.
He is a 9 year old
boy from Rushere. We saw him in our
community clinic that we did there about 5-6 weeks ago. He had a very loud murmur and was quite small
for his age. He and his mother
complained that he could not run and play, like his friends, because he would
get too tired. The team from Riverpoint
in Houston arranged for him to go to Mbarara, to get an echocardiogram
(ultrasound of the heart) and see the cardiologist. He subsequently was seen at Mulago by the
pediatric cardiologist. He has a
Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), or a hole in between the two ventricles. This allows blood to flow through his heart
in an abnormal manner, allowing oxygenated blood to mix with unoxygenated
blood. This requires an increased
workload on the heart. In addition to
the VSD, he has a PDA (patent ductus arteriosis). This is a hole between the left and right
atrium. This too allows blood to mix,
when it should not. He was told in
Mbarara that the repair of these two problems, in combination, could not be
done in Uganda. At Mulago, he was told
that it can be done and he is scheduled for surgery on August the 20th. The heart problems have not cause long term
damage to his heart at this point. He is
a good candidate for a full recovery and to catch up with his peers. The cost of his hospitalization, surgery,
travel and family care at the hospital will be right around $6,000 USD. That is a lot of money, but almost seems
ridiculously cheap for open heart surgery that could save a 9 year old boy’s
life! Please pray for Kenneth. If you feel God leading you to help with his
care, please let me know.
The second of the cardiac kids is Lydia.
Lydia is an 8 year old girl that also comes from
Rushere. She was presented to us by Dr.
Abdul in Rushere. He knew that we had
sent Kenneth to Mbarara to see the cardiologist. In fact, Dr. Abdul had taken time out of his
schedule to ride the bus with Kenneth and his family to Mbarara to make sure
that everything was taken care of and understood. Lydia came into the hospital in Rushere
because she was short of breath. She was
having some congestive heart failure and had a loud murmur. Dr. Abdul asked if we could “sponsor” Lydia
to send her to see the cardiologist also.
We agreed and she made the trip to Mbarara with Dr. Abdul also. She was found to have a PDA and some
pulmonary hypertension. She had to go to
Mulago by ambulance and be admitted to the hospital to see the pediatric
cardiologist. She needs and emergency
surgery to fix the PDA. This does not
have a scheduled date, but we are praying that she will stabilize where she can
have this surgery soon. She must be more
stable to survive the surgery. She has
some dilation of her heart, but this would hopefully normalize after correcting
the PDA. Her surgery, hospitalization,
medications and family care will cost about $1,500 USD. Please pray for Lydia to stabilize where she
can have the surgery. If you feel called
to help with her expenses, please let me know.
Can you imagine how these kids and their families will feel
God’s love if we are able to provide resources to save their lives? These numbers of dollars seem cheap for heart
surgery, to us. But to these families,
that amount of money is not even imaginable.
Simply stated, these kids will die barring a miracle or a successful
operation. I feel blessed to have met
them and to have a chance to work on God’s team to make a difference for them. I will profile the next two cardiac kids in
the next couple of days. You can contact me at dueunto@gmail.com.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support of the Due
Unto Others team in Uganda.
Jay
No comments:
Post a Comment