… has a hole in her heart

By Nnamdi Ojiego

The joy of every parent is to see his or her child grow happily into an adult and become successful in life.

However, this cannot be said of Ms Toyin Odunowo, a single parent whose only child, Mayowa Abolaji, is suffering from what medical experts called a congenital heart disease, that is, a large Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) commonly referred to as ‘hole in the heart’.

When she walked into Vanguard Media Limited premises in Lagos with her daughter, she was visibly troubled. One needed not  be told she was going through difficult times. However, a layman’s look at her daughter did not show any sign of ill-health but a medical report from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH  said it all.

Odunowo’s travails started about a year and a half ago when her daughter was taken to LUTH following Mayowa’s recurrent cough, fast and difficult breathing and failure to gain weight. It was at the hospital that she was told that her only child is having a hole in her heart.

According to the medical report dated January 17, 2011 and signed by Dr. C.A.N. Okoromah, a consultant pediatrician at the teaching hospital, Mayowa needs further cardiovascular evaluation and corrective surgery in order to forestall irreversible and fatal complications of her heart defect.

“We refer our patients with cardiac defects to MIOTS Center for Children’s Cardiac Care, in Chennai, India and we have had good surgical outcomes so far. An expedited action on this case will be appreciated and you may wish to contact us for further clarification on Mayowa’s case”, the report stated.

Ms Odunowo said she came to Vanguard to solicit for financial assistance from Nigerians to save her daughter as the meager salary she receives as a receptionist could not sustain her and the child not to talk of paying for the child’s hole in the heart surgery.”

I have been passing through difficulties just to keep Mayowa alive. It is difficult to buy her drugs because they are very costly. I can no longer cope, I don’t have money again. I want Nigerians to help me cure my child. She is the only thing I have, I don’t want her to die. Please assist me”, she pleaded.

Doctors said it will cost over N2.5 million to get Mayowa treated in India, including transportation and other logistics.

Kind-hearted and public spirited Nigerians, corporate organisations, government and non-government organisations who wish to assist can do so through Sunday Vanguard.