Mia back home after life-saving open heart surgery
"There is a long six-week journey of recovery ahead of her but we are full of hope."
The Dempers family rejoiced as their little girl, Amia Duané Dempers, affectionately known as Mia, returned home after undergoing a successful open heart surgery. The procedure was performed at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital.
According to Mia’s mother Chantell Dempers, Mia was diagnosed with a Tetralogy of the Fallot (TOF) heart defect by Dr Kenny Govendrageloo, a paediatric cardiologist from the hospital just a day after she was born. She then had to undergo open heart surgery for the first time at the age of three months.
Early in July, Mia went for a checkup with Dr Kenny and the family received a call from the doctor’s office on July 8 informing them that Mia’s test results were concerning as her heart was not doing well and was taking strain.
“Her right ventricle has enlarged and the diastolic volume in her heart exceeded the maximum threshold. She was not showing the normal signs of tiredness but we noted over the last couple of weeks that she started taking longer naps and wasn’t feeling like doing much,” Chantell elaborates.
Mia’s family was informed by the cardiothoracic surgeon on July 10 that based on Mia’s problem and concerns surrounding it, she required surgery as soon as possible. Mia was booked in for surgery on July 22 after celebrating her 11th birthday at Maggie’s Farm on July 18 with her friends and family as she had asked her parents to not celebrate her birthday alone in the hospital.
The surgery took place at 8:00 on July 23 and according to Chantell, the surgery was supposed to be a five-hour surgery but ended up taking seven hours. Chantell further adds that the hospital sent them updates via SMS directly from the theatre every one to two hours as a way of letting them know what was going on. Mia was discharged on July 31 and is at home recovering now.
“There is a long six-week journey of recovery ahead of her but we are full of hope,” she expresses.
“The support and prayers that we had from our friends, community, church, family, clients, and loved ones made it easy to go through this. This is our journey, this is our path that is set before us, it’s not an easy one but was made easy with the people that God placed in our life, the people that surrounded us with love and support We couldn’t have done it without them,” she concludes.
To help with medical bills and care for Mia, Chantell is selling a variety of koeksisters. To find out more, contact her on 072 102 1373.
