Heart Surgery for Justus Byaruhanga
Donation protected
My patient, Justus Byaruhanga is a 17 year old boy living in Kisoro Uganda, a remote rural swath of land in the foothills of east Africa. He lives here with his mother and father, who are subsistence farmers and his siblings. Justus is the oldest child in his household and responsible for carrying water back to his home, monitoring his younger siblings, and keeping his grades up in school. He wants to go to college in Kampala and become a lawyer. However, over the last year Justus found he was having increasing fatigue and difficulty breathing while carrying water back to his home. With these problems Justus came to us at Kisoro District Hospital (KDH) where Doctors for Global Health, Montefiore Hospitals, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine all work with the Ugandan Ministry of Health to provide healthcare for Justus' rural community.
After evaluation by doctors at KDH Justus was found to have a murmur in his heart suggestive of rheumatic heart disease destroying one of his heart valves and leading to his litany of symptoms. Fortunately, cardiac surgeons around the world can fix his valve after which KDH can give him medications to make sure the disease never afflicts him again, allowing him to live a long healthy life. We took the first step and sent Justus for a surgical evaluation at the Uganda Heart Institute in Kampala where they confirmed our suspicions of the diagnosis and agreed to conduct the surgery for $5000. The comparable operation in the United States would cost upwards of $30,000. After the operation Justus will have a new fully functional mechanical heart valve that will allow his heart to beat strong again, he will be able to play with his family and friends, carry water for his loved ones, and study hard to achieve his dreams. Kisoro District Hospital and myself will stand behind him providing longitudinal and comprehensive medical care as Justus continues the fight for his life going forward, for now we are contributing and raising funds for this life-saving procedure.
It is in this context that I am asking for donations to subsidize Justus’s costs of operation and save his life.
After evaluation by doctors at KDH Justus was found to have a murmur in his heart suggestive of rheumatic heart disease destroying one of his heart valves and leading to his litany of symptoms. Fortunately, cardiac surgeons around the world can fix his valve after which KDH can give him medications to make sure the disease never afflicts him again, allowing him to live a long healthy life. We took the first step and sent Justus for a surgical evaluation at the Uganda Heart Institute in Kampala where they confirmed our suspicions of the diagnosis and agreed to conduct the surgery for $5000. The comparable operation in the United States would cost upwards of $30,000. After the operation Justus will have a new fully functional mechanical heart valve that will allow his heart to beat strong again, he will be able to play with his family and friends, carry water for his loved ones, and study hard to achieve his dreams. Kisoro District Hospital and myself will stand behind him providing longitudinal and comprehensive medical care as Justus continues the fight for his life going forward, for now we are contributing and raising funds for this life-saving procedure.
It is in this context that I am asking for donations to subsidize Justus’s costs of operation and save his life.
Organizer
Shombit Chaudhuri
Organizer
New York, NY