We must save Oumar

For several months now, there have been no flights between Paris and Bamako. Nevertheless, we have maintained daily contact with the Malian teams in the field via videoconferencing. With Dr Diarra from the hospital in Bamako, Mali, we regularly review the files of the children to be operated on as a priority, and theechocardiogram performed during a remote consultation on little Oumar quickly alerted us!

OUMAR CAN WAIT NO LONGER

Oumar should already have been operated on. But the Covid-19 pandemic turned everything upside down. Our Bamako Cardiology Centre was requisitioned for a time for coronavirus patients. Nothing is over yet, but the Covid sufferers have been moved to another part of the hospital, and our Center, which has been fully disinfected, can once again welcome children with heart disease.

Oumar suffers from a single atrium. Normally, the heart is made up of two atria: one receives non-oxygenated blood, the other distributes oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. But in Oumar’s case, the partition separating the two atria is missing, causing the heart to work overtime and become exhausted.

AN OPERATION TOO COSTLY FOR THE FAMILY

The surgeons’ job will be to create the septum that nature didn’t give Oumar. Open-heart surgery will involve placing a patch between the two atria… Normal blood circulation will be restored. Oumar will immediately regain his breath and enjoy harmonious growth and a normal life.

But the operation comes at an incompressible price: 3,500 euros… And the child’s father, who runs a small hardware store in a poor district of Bamako, is already struggling to support his family. How can we ask him to put together years of wages…

We can help them, by becoming a link in this chain and making a donation to save Oumar.

RESTARTING OUR HEART CENTER IN BAMAKO

The surgery that will enable Oumar’s heart to continue beating will mark the re-launch of our Bamako Heart Centre, which is vital for saving all those little lives at risk.

Together, let’s mobilize!