Hole-in-heart: One-yr-old Blessing needs N2m for surgery

By Taiwo Olanrewaju - 25.05.2008

THE birth of a new child is a joyous event. Infact, such a child is referred to as a bundle of joy. Such was the experience of Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Oladotun when they gave birth to their fourth child, a baby girl, on 16th January, 2007 at Harvey General Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.

But their joy was short lived as their daughter started manifesting some strange behviours from the third day of birth. According to Mr. Oladokun, an accountant/marketer with a private company at Oregun Lagos, the baby cried unconsolably for 24 hours, since then her breathing been very high.

“She only felt a little better when she was laid down but as soon as we carried her, she cried and laid her little hands on her chest,” explained the graduate of Ogun State Olabisi University now Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye.

The stressed-up father of a boy and two other girls, who could not remember if the child weighed 2kg or 2.2kg at birth, said Blessing was delivered when her pregnancy was just eight months old.

This began the travail of the Oladotuns, indigenes of Oyo town in Oyo State who were referred to Mercy Hospital, Olushi in Lagos, where they were on admission for 15 days.

Being christians, the couple nursed high hopes that all would be well and inspite of the fact that their baby was down in the incubator, they still named her Blessing.

After shuttling between Harvey and Mercy Hospitals for a while, they were referred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), Idi Araba, Lagos in September or October 2007.

After undergoing a number of tests like stool and HIV tests, Xrays and a special test, Blessing was sent to the Emergency Ward for heart failure.

It was there she was eventually diagnosed of down syndrome and an cyanotic congenital heart disease after the discovery of two holes in her heart.

Blessing, who does not eat much at a year and four months plus, weighs 4kg presently. A sum of about N2 million is, however, needed to carry out a cardiac surgery on her at Hrudayalaya Hospital Bangalore, India.

Mr Oladotun explained that his wife, Hannah, a graduate of the Kwara Polytechnic, Ilorin, after being unemployed for years, took to petty trading.

And as such, the family had expended all it had on the innocent baby. The Oladotuns are therefore appealing to well-meaning Nigerians to help save Blessings’ life.

In order that Blessing would indeed be a sources of blessing to her parents and be a bundle of joy, rather than a bundle of burden to them, all assistance should be sent to the Editor, Sunday Tribune, Imalefalafia, Ibadan or to P.O. Box 78, General Post Office, Dugbe, Ibadan, for onward transfer to the Oladotuns.