Adventina: a two-day train journey to surgery
Adventina was born in Kibondo, Kigoma Region, in 2008. She was chosen for surgery in the United States, but the pandemic closed the borders, so her surgery happened in Dar es Salaam instead.
Adventina Dismas Ernest was born on 14 February 2008 at Kibondo District Hospital in Kigoma Region.
In 2019, after difficulty breathing and frequent coughing, she was taken to Igalilimi Hospital in Kahama District. Doctors found that her heart was enlarged and gave her medicine, but she did not get better. She was then referred to Bugando Medical Centre, where a ventricular septal defect, a hole between the two lower chambers of the heart, was diagnosed.
Her father took the diagnosis as a hereditary illness from her mother's side, and mother and daughter were sent out of the home. Her mother turned to Dr. Glory, a paediatric cardiologist at Bugando, who brought Adventina's case to The One New Heart Tanzania.
At that time there were no local surgical camps for children. We approached the HeartGift Foundation USA, and after we shared her medical reports Adventina was selected for surgery in the United States. In 2020, while her travel documents were being prepared, the COVID-19 pandemic closed almost every border and a US visa became impossible. For more than six months there was no way forward.
We proposed to HeartGift that they sponsor her treatment locally at the national cardiac centre instead, and they agreed. Through Care for Child's Heart Kenya she was referred to the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute in early December 2020.
Adventina and her mother travelled from Kigoma to Dar es Salaam by train, about 1,374 km, a journey of two days. Accommodation was arranged for them before admission. Her surgery at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute in December 2020 went well.
After recovery they returned to Kigoma so that Adventina could rest and go back to school, with follow-up clinics at JKCI. During a recent follow-up we spoke with her teacher: Adventina is continuing her studies in the tenth grade at ordinary secondary level.
Helping a child like Adventina helps a family and the community she will grow up to serve. We are grateful to everyone who continues to make treatment possible for children whose families cannot afford it.
Published with the family's written consent.
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