PROJECT: SAVE SUKUMAR’S HEART
We urgently needed to raise £4,500 for the Open Heart Surgery that saved a life
Target Date was 23 Feb 2018
As reported below, this amount has been exceeded and the bill has been paid. The surplus will be put towards Sukumar’s ongoing medication costs, which are likely to be for the rest of his life. Although this specific fund-raising appeal has been completed, we have a continuing long-term need for sponsorship of Neil’s Home and would be so grateful if you feel led to join our list of sponsors, either through a one-off payment, or a regular donation.
To see how you can help, please visit our Sponsor page HERE
UPDATE 21st MARCH 9th 2018: WOW! We are humbled and grateful for your generosity and love, through which we have not only reached our target, but have exceeded it AND the hospital gave us a generous discount on the bill (see the graph at the bottom of this page). Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
This is a wonderful position to be in, because any funds left over after paying the hospital bill will be put towards Sukumar’s ongoing medication, which is expected to be for life. We thank The Lord!
Every donation, whether large or small, has made a difference and we are grateful for all of them. Many or most donors have been anonymous, so we are unable to thank those people individually, but they have been from various places including the UK and Paderborn (Germany). Bless you all.
SUKUMAR’S STORY:
Sukumar is a gentle soul. He is just 15 but due to his stature, is often mistaken for someone younger. When you speak with him, you come to realise his age is older than his appearance. He has always just got on with things, never complaining, happy to just be part of whatever was going on. This made the fact that he was quite ill difficult to diagnose. He enjoys school and study (yes, it is possible for some teenage boys!), but has not been able to attend this last school year.
We are reaching out to request contributions to cover his recent hospital bill. Every little helps, so whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated.
In summer, 2017, we discovered that Sukumar had a heart problem that had been misdiagnosed as a virus. Children are often sent home (if appropriate) to be looked after by parents or relatives, when they are ill. This is to prevent others at the children’s home from getting sick and ensures the parents/ relatives are in charge of their care. Whilst at home, he got to the stage of being unable to breathe properly, and hence too weak to walk. Even eating was difficult. His relatives contacted Syam and, with Shanta, they made the decision to take him to a second doctor who diagnosed a heart condition.
Upon investigation, it was confirmed that he required heart valve replacement plus a valve repair. At this time, he had about 40% heart function. However, the doctor prescribed medication and said that Sukumar was too young for the operation and should take the tablets and come back in 5 years for the operation. So for a few months, he continued with injections and tablets.
When we were informed of the diagnosis here in the UK, we reached out to one of the Trustees’ work colleagues, who is a cardiac surgeon. He examined Sukumar’s reports (scans etc.) and disagreed that Sukumar was too young. In fact, the operation required is a standard procedure here in Europe.
So we set about the task of finding a reputable cardiac team who could treat Sukumar in India.
By God’s grace, through a personal contact, we were put in touch with a private hospital group in India – amazingly enough, they had a cardiac hospital in Vijayawada (our closest major city). The hospital did further tests and confirmed that not only was the valve replacement and repair required, it would need to be done quickly, as Sukumar’s condition was deteriorating rapidly. At the end of November 2017, they were talking about scheduling the operation within 3 weeks. The prognosis for surviving the operation was 50/50 given his weakened state. The hospital, rightly so, wanted cardiac teams from another hospital to conduct a second review and should the operation go ahead, for a senior surgeon from Bangalore to perform the operation. It was decided that the operation would happen in the new year, when the surgeon was available.
Sukumar was admitted to hospital just before New Year’s eve when he became very ill. This prompted the surgery to be brought forward – deemed very high risk. By this time, his heart function was only approximately 20%.
The procedure took place on Tuesday, 10th January. The operation went very well; the surgeons were pleased with the outcome. He was in ICU for a few days, but recovered so quickly that he was moved to a general ward sooner than expected. He was discharged on Thursday, 19th January.
Syam and Shanta are both responsible for the running of the home in Nuzvid. Shanta (a qualified nurse) watched over Sukumar as if he were her own. She stayed through the night and spent time with Sukumar’s mom throughout his hospital stay, to help with care and understanding of what was required. Her commitment to his care is second to none! Syam helped with the administration side of things, required for such complex surgery. There was a lot of running around to do! Their combined care and support was noticed by the hospital staff.
So, this highly-regarded surgical team were able to treat Sukumar, and the hospital group offered to carry out the procedure as a charity case. The giving of their time and expertise was absolutely amazing. Thanks to the generosity of the surgeons in giving of their time, we have a significantly reduced hospital bill.
The urgency and speed at which the procedure was required, meant we did not have time to raise the funds before the operation. Due to this, the fees that would normally be due upfront or paid on day of discharge, have been deferred in order to help give us the time to raise the funds. Another wonderful gesture of support by the hospital.
Sukumar received the highest quality of care: both before the operation, during his two days in ICU, and the week afterwards in general recovery.
We received a bill of approximately £4,500.00 on Thursday 19th, the day of discharge. This is now due the end of February 2018.
Without surgery, Sukumar would simply not be with us. This operation was truly life-saving, and the skill of the surgeons and dedication of the hospital staff mean this young man now has a future to look forward to.
This includes going back to school in June at the start of the new academic year. He will have to catch up on the year missed, but he will have the support to enable him to pick up where he left off.
He is currently at home with his mother, recovering. They are under strict instructions to ensure that risk of infection is controlled and minimised. His visitors can only be healthy ones! Open-heart surgery recovery time is expected to be between 6-8 weeks and after that, general fitness recovery.
So, if you can help towards his hospital costs and help us to raise the funds for payment before the 23rd February (helps us to include transfer time from the UK to India), we would be truly grateful.
This has been an absolutely amazing story from start to finish and it’s no exaggeration to say that a life has been saved here.
It would be an incredible end to this same wonderful, crazy story for us to hit our target through the generosity of many.
Click on the following images to see an expanded view of them:
Sukumar post surgery
FINAL STATUS OF FUNDRAISING APPEAL: TARGET EXCEEDED!!!
