This project will help: 1 Compassion-assisted beneficiary
Completion date: June 2025
Country: Kenya
Executive summary
Joyce, a nine-year-old girl living in Kenya, lives with her grandparents and two older brothers. Sadly, Joyce had a difficult start to life. Her mother died when she was young and her father’s whereabouts are unknown. Joyce’s grandfather is the main provider for the family, earning income from his small farm. On a good month, he only brings home the equivalent of $40.90. To help make ends meet, Joyce’s grandmother works on a neighbour’s farm. Together, her grandparents barely earn enough to feed their family and their grandchildren.
In 2018, Joyce joined the Compassion program at the EAPC Mzambarauni Church. Although this was an exciting occasion, during one of Joyce’s first standard health exams, the attending doctor noted symptoms of a heart condition. Joyce was not only small for her age but was also experiencing shortness of breath, poor appetite, extreme fatigue and difficulty completing normal tasks. She was referred to a pediatric cardiologist at the Mater Hospital in Kenya. After a host of cardiac tests, Joyce was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition called tetralogy of Fallot. Without treatment, this condition can cause severe disability or death in early adulthood.
Because Joyce’s condition has continued to deteriorate, the cardiac team put her on medication and scheduled her for open-heart surgery. However, Joyce’s grandparents simply cannot afford the required life-saving surgery and treatment required to help Joyce live a healthy life. Compassion’s local church partner, the EAPC Mzambarauni Church, want to support Joyce, but they have already exhausted their resources providing medical care for her.
With your generous support, Joyce will receive open-heart surgery to repair the defect on her heart due to her condition. Joyce’s medical team has recently deemed her stable enough to undergo the surgery she urgently needs. Your gift will allow her to undergo surgery and receive ongoing monitoring and support for six months. Because of her condition, Joyce also experiences poor appetite and malnutrition. Your gift will also provide Joyce with nutritional support for six months following her surgery to help her heal and grow so she can lead a more normal life.
Summary
Background
Joyce’s heart condition was present at birth. Her grandmother noted that Joyce always seemed different from her brothers, but without adequate medical care, they did not know why. In 2018, Joyce was diagnosed with tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart condition. According to the American Heart Association, this heart condition is characterized by four features: a hole between the lower chambers of the heart, the aorta laying over the hole, a blockage from the heart to lungs and thickened muscles in the lower right chamber.
The condition impacts the heart’s ability to pump blood into the lungs. Normally, the left side of the heart pumps blood to the body and the right side pumps blood to the lungs. Because of the heart’s right-side defects, only the left side of Joyce’s heart is pumping blood to the body and lungs. This, coupled with oxygen-poor blood, causes significant strain on both the heart and lungs. Due to this condition, Joyce experiences many severe and uncomfortable symptoms such as shortness of breath, poor appetite, severe exhaustion, a persistent dry cough and respiratory infections. Left untreated, tetralogy of Fallot can have serious or fatal side effects such as bacterial infections in the lining of the heart.
The need
Young nine-year-old Joyce needs urgent, life-saving heart surgery. Joyce’s quality of life has deteriorated to the point where it is difficult for her to attend school, play with her peers and complete simple, everyday tasks without experiencing pain and exhaustion. With your support, Joyce will receive the open-heart surgery she needs to correct her heart condition and begin living a healthy, normal life. Now stable, Joyce can undergo heart surgery as soon as the funds are available.
Your gift will also enable Joyce to receive care and support for six months after her surgery. Centre staff, along with her medical team, will continue to monitor her healing and progress post-surgery. Her team will provide her with nourishing food and support, aiding her recovery and helping her return to a healthy weight. This support will ensure that she recovers well so that she can return to school and catch up on what she’s missed due to her condition. With your support, Joyce will no longer experience debilitating symptoms and will finally be able to keep up with her brothers and her peers. Joyce’s family will also enjoy reduced anxiety and increased well-being as they can direct their energy and finances to activities to support the entire family.
What your gift will do
Your gift will allow one Compassion-assisted beneficiary to receive open-heart surgery to correct her heart defect:
- Open-heart surgery with a cardiologist, surgeons and anesthetist
- Intensive care unit/high dependency unit/recovery ward stay
- Catheter lab/surgical theatre use
- Medications and laboratory/imaging tests
- Monthly follow-up for 6 months
- Nutritional support for 6 months
Logistics
- Local contribution: US$2,948.26
- Handling of funds: Compassion Kenya will work with the local church partner to ensure this project stays within budget.
- Monitoring and follow-up: Compassion centre staff will work closely with the medical team, who will monitor Joyce’s condition as she undergoes heart surgery and enters the recovery phase. A doctor will provide Joyce’s team with progress reports throughout her recovery and at the end of the intervention.