Shanel – the river of positivity

Shanel – the river of positivity  

Just like the meaning of her name, Shanel knows the art of connecting people with positivity and energy. Even when this 9-year-old bundle was going for Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) intervention, she was all chipper and bubbly. 

She was first diagnosed with PDA  when she was just 3-months old. Doctors felt that her situation would improve with age and may not require an intervention. Unfortunately, her condition is not improving. On Monday, our team, currently on a medical mission to Kenya, treated Shanel for this congenital heart defect.  

We are only able to share these stories with you because of the support our Little Hearts Programme has received from thousands of people over the years. Without your donations and sponsorships, we won't be able to carry out these deployments. Thank you so much for being so supportive. 

About Kenya Deployment  

The mission started on the 13th and will continue until 17th December at Coast General hospital Mombasa.   

We are aiming to treat 30-40 children during this deployment.   

During our first deployment in Kenya, our team carried out 35 interventions earlier in July 2021.   

"During our first mission, we found that there is a greater need for such deployments in Kenya. Mombasa is home to over a million people with no paediatric interventional care available to children. Our long-term objective is to build human resources capacity in Kenya so that local doctors can carry out these interventions, " said Kabir Miah, Programmes Manager at Muntada Aid. 

 

Do You Know? 

Each year an estimated 1.5 million children are born with Congenital Heart Defects.  

10% of babies born with CHD out of 1.5 million do not survive their first year of life 
 

About Little Hearts Programme 

Our Little Hearts project provides free life-saving heart surgery to babies and children with Congenital Heart Defects from underprivileged families irrespective of gender, race or religion. 
 

Impact

Since 2012, the Little Heart team has travelled to 10 different countries carrying out over 22,00 operations and interventions on children. The mission to Kenya is our 35th deployment.