Liane Roux (eight months) was born with a heart defect and urgently needs an operation.
She has a little hole in her heart, known as ventricular septal defect (VSD) and it is a congenital heart defect.
She was diagnosed with this condition a few weeks after she was born.
This hole divides her left- and right heart chambers from one another.
Although doctors will fix this hole when they operate on her, this hole is currently a lifeline for her.
She was also born with another heart defect called double outlet right ventricle (DORV) which means her aorta connects to her heart in the wrong place, thus to get enough oxygen pumped through her body is a problem.
“That hole in her heart currently helps to get blood from her one heart chamber to the other one,” said Liane’s mother, Ashley Roux.
Ashley and her husband, Quintin, have been trying to raise money for Liane’s operation since last year.
They managed to raise R12 000, but the total cost of the operation will be R750 000 so the family still needs R738 000 for Liane’s operation.
The other option is for the family to get a medical aid for Liane and Ashley.
However, the waiting period before Liane can go for the operation is a year and the family cannot afford the amount of R4 882 per month for a medical aid.
If they can find a sponsor for a medical aid, it will help with Liane’s expenses for hospital visits which the family currently has to pay cash.
The Ridge Times reported about Liane in October last year when she was four months old.
Government hospitals cannot help Liane with an operation because they do not have the necessary equipment.
The only hospital that can help Liane with this operation, is the Maboneng Lung and Heart Institute in Johannesburg.
The family opened a trust fund and a lawyer will be handling the bank account and incoming money for Liane’s operation.
Ashley said if Liane does not get the operation soon, she might die.
“Although the hole in her heart is currently her only lifeline and it will be closed during the operation, for now it needs to remain open because if it closes now before doctors can reconstruct her heart and move her artery to the right position, she will not be able to breathe or get enough oxygen,” said Ashley.
Liane coughs a lot because she does not get enough oxygen and Ashley said she only sleeps one and a half hour per night.
“I wish she could just realise that her body needs to rest and sleep more,” said Ashley.
Quintin is currently unemployed and takes care of Liane full-time while Ashley works as a receptionist at a business in Trichardt.
The couple recently had to rush Liane to the emergency unit of the hospital because she struggled to breathe.
The medical staff managed to help her, but the couple had to pay R15 000 for the treatment.
“It is really hard to see your daughter battling to breathe like that, we want to raise the money and help her as soon as we can,” said Quintin.
Liane has two little brothers, Liam (4) and Luke (6).
“Liam is too small to understand, but Luke asks us every day why his little sister has to go to hospital so often and what is wrong with her,” said Quintin.
“He just wants to be around her all the time.”
The couple reached out to Bennie van Vreden for help after they saw his Facebook post about his son who also had to undergo an heart operation and he also opened an account to help them raise money.
The account Van Vreden opened, is more for businesses wanting to make a donation towards Liane’s operation and Van Vreden can help the business with Section 18 documents if they donate.
The account details are: Isaiah 53 Foundation, FNB, Enterprise Business Account, Account number – 627 4588 3901, Branch – 253 442 with the reference – Liane and your name and surname.
Proof of payment can be sent to ben@devreden.co.za.
For more information, contact Van Vreden at 074 101 6912.
Individuals who want to support Liane in her journey to an open heart operation and stay up to date with her condition, can visit the Facebook page created for Liane, namely Liane Roux@Liane R or donate money by paying it into the trust’s bank account at: ADP Inc Trust Account, Nedbank, Cheque Account, Account number – 1124 496 467, Branch – 198 765 with the reference – Liane and your name and surname.
