Eight-month-old set to thrive after a life-saving operation
SUNNINGHILL – The mother of a baby boy who went through a life-saving operation is grateful that her child was given a second chance to live.
An eight-month-old baby boy, Muhammad Noor Ismail, is recovering well after undergoing a life-saving operation to fix a large hole in his heart at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital.
Health companies and medical specialists teamed up to ensure that the baby could receive the urgent surgery he needed at the world-class cardiothoracic centre at the hospital.
Earlier this year, the little boy was diagnosed with a ventricular septal defect, or a hole in the wall between the two lower chambers of his heart.
“It was not clear at first how badly his tiny heart was affected, but it soon became evident that the hole was so large that it would likely become debilitating, potentially even life-threatening, if not corrected soon,” said cardiothoracic surgeon and co-founder of the Maboneng Heart Institute, Dr Erich Schürmann.
He said as the child grew, this type of heart defect damaged the arteries of the lungs, and a specialised procedure was required to correct it. “Sadly, there is a considerable waiting list for such resource-intensive procedures, and when we heard about Muhammad Noor’s condition, we were determined to find a way to assist,” he said.
Baby Muhammad Noor is the latest beneficiary of the Heart-to-Heart campaign, a corporate social investment match funding challenge by Netcare Foundation and Medipost Holdings, for operations to disadvantaged children with life-threatening heart conditions by specialists at the institute. When the doctor suggested he might have a heart defect, the little boy was first referred to Kalafong Hospital and from there to Steve Biko Academic Hospital.
His mother, Sana Maher, noticed when her baby was only two weeks old that he wasn’t feeding well. At first, she tried some of the recommended home remedies but when his condition wasn’t improving, she took him to the doctor.
The unemployed mother said the operation was originally scheduled for March next year at Steve Biko hospital. This meant that she didn’t have any option but to wait.
“Because it was such a large hole in his heart, Prof Lindy Mitchell, from the hospital [Steve Biko], assisted us with the application to get the procedure in the private sector in the hopes he could have the operation much sooner,” she said.
Maher said the campaign was one of the best things to happen to her family. She encouraged anyone who could support the campaign to contribute so that more children like her son could get help. “He only had the operation a week ago and he is already playing and laughing.”
