Pretoria - Turning one year old with a newly-mended heart is not an everyday story – but it is one which little Atang Baloyi will still be talking about for many birthdays to come.
This little girl is the most recent beneficiary of the Heart to Heart Campaign, a corporate social investment match-funding initiative of Medipost Holdings and the Netcare Foundation to help children who need urgent life- saving heart operations.
This brave little warrior smiled brightly when she saw her birthday cake – and all this a mere two weeks after a hole in her heart was repaired earlier this month.
“When we learnt that our baby girl had a hole in her heart, I think I had a nervous breakdown. The heart is not something you can live without, like an arm or a leg. The heart is so vulnerable and central to life,” said Tintswalo Baloyi, mother of baby Atang.
It was a double celebration on April 14 for the family, who celebrated both her first birthday and the successful surgery to correct the life-threatening heart defect with which she was born.
“Since the heart operation, Atang is recovering very well. She’s enjoying lots of attention from us and her grandmother, and we were so happy to celebrate her first birthday.
“She’s still too young to talk, but even at such a young age our little girl knows what she wants, and she has no difficulty making it very clear to us,” her relieved mother said.
“Knowing our baby’s heart has been repaired is the best birthday present we could have wished for,” added Atang’s father, Ernest Matshoga.
The Maboneng Foundation, a non-profit organisation, co-ordinates the sponsorship of surgeries for South African children with congenital heart defects.
Specialists of the renowned Maboneng Heart and Lung Institute provided their time and expertise free for the baby girl’s heart operation, which was performed at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg.
“The team at Steve Biko Academic Hospital brought Atang’s situation to our attention. The ventricular septal defect, or hole in the wall of the heart between the two chambers, was likely to become debilitating and potentially life threatening, if it was not corrected soon,” said cardiothoracic surgeon and co-founder of the Maboneng Heart Institute, Dr Erich Schürmann.
“As the surgery to correct the defect is highly resource-intensive and there is sadly a great need for such procedures, there’s a considerable waiting list. It’s a race against time, however, because as the child grows, the heart defect causes damage to the arteries of the lungs. We were determined to find a way to help Atang to have the operation sooner with private sector support to cover the theatre and hospitalisation costs,” he said.
Several specialists, who all practise at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital, performed the procedure to close the hole in Atang’s small heart.
“It was very emotional for us parents waiting for our baby to come out of theatre,” the happy father said. “We are truly grateful for the opportunity, and we appreciate what this operation means for our daughter’s future.”
The mother added that she would not be surprised if their little girl becomes a pharmacist one day.
“She knows her medication so well, and she was so good when I gave her medicine for the heart condition, that I think she might have a future as a pharmacist. Her personality already shows she is caring, so perhaps that would be a good match for her.”
The parents agree that whichever path Atang chooses, they are simply grateful and pleased that this brave little girl has come through the operation so well and is ready to take on the future and the opportunities it will bring.
“God bless all the doctors and nurses who looked after our little girl. You are not just doing your jobs, you are making miracles. We are just so grateful that she has a new lease on life. We can never forget what you have done for Atang,” Baloyi added.
Pretoria News