The specialised medical teams at Health City Cayman Islands have once again etched themselves into the annals of Caribbean medical history with the successful treatment of a young, teenaged Bolivian mother and her daughter, both of whom were born with large atrial septal (heart) defects.
Fatima Ramos Cardozo and her two-year-old daughter, Maria, both suffered from the same fatal condition, also known as a hole in the heart and were likely to die prematurely. Once the cases came to the attention of Children’s Heart Project, mother and child were flown to Health City where the expert cardiac team led by Dr. Binoy Chattuparambil, Health City’s Clinical Director and Chief Cardiac Surgeon, performed the lifesaving surgery.
Despite his decades of experience treating patients from a diverse range of backgrounds, Dr. Binoy had never come across a similar scenario. “Surprisingly, I had never seen anything like this. I had to operate on the child and mother on the same day,” he commented.
Growing up, Fatima was teased and bullied by her peers because of the symptoms of her heart disease, such as shortness of breath while playing. Following surgery, the family and clinicians were delighted to know that the all-clear had been sounded after an echocardiogram and other tests confirmed that both patients were free to live normal lives.
Fatima, whose family could not afford the cost of an operation, beamed at the positive report and outcome, knowing that she and her baby had received a priceless gift.
“When the doctor told me that I would be able to live life like a normal person with no more heart problems, I felt extremely happy I could live a full life being with my daughter, and not worrying that I would only have a year or two left to live,” she said, explaining that she had drawn closer to God throughout the process.
Dr. Corey Furman, a Board Director of Samaritan’s Purse, which operates The Children’s Heart Project, recognised the extraordinary circumstances and praised the coordination between the charities and the surgeons of Health City. “So the mother saved the baby and the baby saved the mother. And both the mother and the grandmother accepted Christ this week. This, I think, has been the best example of what Children’s Heart Project is all about. It all rests in the Lord’s hands.”
Since 2016, Dr. Binoy and his highly trained colleagues at Health City have performed over 950 charitable surgeries. Through Health City’s partnership with Samaritan’s Purse and The Children’s Heart Project, life-saving heart surgeries have been extended to hundreds of vulnerable children worldwide whose families were unable to afford these complicated procedures. This includes more than 165 complicated procedures for children from countries such as Bolivia, Iraq, Kosovo, Mongolia and Uganda.
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