By Dayo Damilola
The family of three-year-old Chidinma Esther Michael is soliciting for the sum of N7 million for an urgent hole-in-the-heart surgery. Born on October 11, 2020, in the Egbeda area of Lagos, baby Chidinma was said to have fallen critically ill at three weeks old.
It was, however, shocking to the parents when doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba, Lagos, diagnosed her with a hole in the heart.
Chidinma’s mother, Mrs. Angela Michael, said she frequently fell ill during pregnancy. Angela, who blamed Chidinma’s current condition on her state of health while pregnant, decried that her baby needs urgent surgery to live. “My daughter became very sick at three weeks old. My husband and I took her back to the hospital where she was born,” she recounted. “The doctors admitted her for some time; then they referred us to LASUTH, Ikeja.”
“Although Chidinma was placed on oxygen and had a blood transfusion, she couldn’t get the test done because her family couldn’t raise the bill.
“My husband lost his job when I was three months pregnant due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The bank he was working at laid off some workers. It affected him as well,” she narrated.
“Sadly, Angela remembered her delicate pregnancy experience.” During my pregnancy, I would fall sick regularly.
“I would even bleed, which worried my husband and asked me to stop working. While admitted to LASUTH for one week at age three weeks, “the doctors examined her and told us a test would be conducted on her because of the sound they could hear.
“We couldn’t raise the money for the test. So, the hospital discharged us. We got home, only for her situation to worsen. We rushed her back to LASUTH. We have taken her to different hospitals.”
According to the mother, it was at LUTH, with the help of some Nigerians, that the doctors examined her and confirmed a large hole in her heart. “I’m begging every Nigerian and corporate organization to come to the rescue of my child, who needs assistance. The doctor said only surgery could close the hole. $7 million is the bill. That’s big money. We don’t have that kind of money,” she lamented.
If you are touched by Chidinma’s plight, please send your donations to GTBank account number: 0834120283, account name: Michael Chidinma Esther. or call 08051226464