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As you will recall from our urgent appeal for donations last autumn, Helen Awuor from Kenya (who had suffered from myocarditis as a child) was suffering from a progressively worsening heart valve defect.
The consequences of this were low stamina, shortness of breath and, within a few years, the threat of death from heart failure.
For her four children, who would then have been left to fend for themselves without their mother’s help and care, this would have meant dropping out of school, being thrown out of their room and a life of misery with no hope of a decent existence. Since separating from her now-deceased husband in 1993, she had been a single mother, raising her four children: Janette (aged 4), Phanice (9), Michael (13) and Judy (15) in a single room without water or electricity in the notorious Kibera slum in the south of Nairobi.
Her monthly income amounts to the equivalent of €40 to €60. This meant that an operation was out of the question.
But Helen was saved thanks to your help:
On 9 July, she underwent successful surgery at Mater Hospital in Nairobi, performed by a renowned Indian heart surgeon who had travelled there for the procedure. The damaged heart valves were replaced with artificial ones, thereby restoring the heart’s function.
We visited Helen in hospital shortly after the operation and were delighted to see that, in a hopeful and happy frame of mind, she was able to take longer walks in the hospital grounds for the first time without any discomfort.
Even though her daily life will continue to be difficult and challenging, your donation has given Helen an opportunity she could never have dreamed of: to now cope more easily with life, with a heart that has, in the truest sense of the word, been given a new lease of life.
A heartfelt thank you to all donors!