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mycutiepie (f)
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A four-month-old baby, Master Israel Fasoyin, is currently on anger list at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), following a hole in his heart. Doctors say he has about seven weeks to live, within which a surgery must be carried out on him.
Little Fasoyin is the first child of a couple, who waited for 12 years for the proverbial fruit of the womb. Due to the fact that the surgery to rectify little Faroyin’s heart can’t be done in Nigeria, he has been referred to Israel or India. However, availability of funds for the surgery would determine whether little Fasoyin will live or not as a whooping $9000 or roughly N2 million is required. His father, a radiographer and the mother, a teacher, cannot afford this whooping sum.
In a statement made available to Daily Sun, the consulting pediatrician at LUTH stated that Master Fasoyin has Dysmorphic features, a condition suggestive of Carpenter Syndrome and artrio-ventricular canal defect and therefore requires surgery within seven weeks to avoid complications.
Speaking with Daily Sun, little Fasoyin’s mother, Mrs. Temitayo Fasoyin, said, "the baby has a hole in the heart, that is his problem. This was disclosed to us by the consulting pediatrician in charge of the baby. The boy will need a surgery abroad, maybe in India, Israel or South Africa because they don’t do pediatric (children) heart surgery here in Nigeria.
"We need help because we cannot afford it. We need between N1.6 and N2 million for the surgery. That can accommodate the cost of the surgery, flight and lodging. I am a teacher, I cannot afford it." The father of the baby, Mr. Shola Fasoyin, a radiographer in a private hospital, told Daily Sun, "financially, we are spent. In fact, God helped us through some families. My wife had the baby through caesarian section. I cannot foot the bill, the whole of my family and my wife’s family put together cannot foot the bill. I want the public to help us before it is too late."
He said: "The consulting pediatrician in charge told us that the surgery should be done urgently so that the baby will not develop complications. It is urgent. The baby has to do the surgery within the next seven weeks," adding: "I have made contact with a hospital in India through internet, the survival rate of pediatric heart surgery there is 97 percent. They told me the cost and said whenever we are ready I should send them a mail, they will come to the airport over there to pick us. I am asking for assistance, we need roughly N2 million."
Explaining the possible reason the baby has a hole in the heart, Dr. Remi Ajekigbe, consultant Radiotherapist and Onchologist, LUTH, said that congenital malformation is expected where both parents are old, especially the mother.
He said, "the women is 44 and this is her first baby, that is the most probable reason for the hole in the heart of the baby. In medical circle, we usually expect such malformations from babies born from such mothers or parent that have aged. If there is no congenital malformation from such parents we thank God, but if there is, we are not surprised."
source: The Sun Online
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