Care and surgery
Training and skills transfer
Building and equipping hospitals
Prevention and screening
Emergencies and humanitarian crises
Maternal health
News from Bessam
Thanks to your generosity, the impossible has been achieved in Lebanon.
In Lebanon, Bessam received the long-awaited operation. Although the boy had been diagnosed in 2019 as suffering from “atrial septal defect”, the health and then economic crisis that hit Lebanon kept postponing his treatment. It was your support that enabled Bessam to undergo the surgery he had been hoping for. The partition separating the two atria of his heart is now watertight. And the little boy can now play peacefully alongside his two brothers and three sisters.
Bessam’s ailing heart can wait no longer
Bessam is 7 years old and lives in Tripoli, Lebanon. Although he was examined in 2019 in one of the medical facilities set up by La Chaîne de l’Espoir, the Covid-19 crisis and the tragedies that have hit Beirut have unfortunately disrupted all efforts to help him… The need to save Bessam’s life is now more pressing than ever.
THE SITUATION IN LEBANON HAS WORSENED
Bessam should have undergone heart surgery as soon as possible, but everything conspired against him to delay the operation. The Covid-19 crisis forced hospitals to postpone essential surgical procedures. The explosion in the port of Beirut exacerbated the country’s already catastrophic situation. The economy has collapsed, inflation is rampant, some salaries have been cut by a factor of 10, nurses are no longer paid, doctors are forced to go abroad to survive…
So, in this desolate world, Bessam’s continued care had become impossible. Almost 2 years have passed… and that’s far too long for his malfunctioning heart! Fortunately, Bessam’s mom came back for a consultation with her son. But alas, as the tests have shown, his condition has worsened. Bessam suffers from a congenital heart defect, an “atrial septal defect”. This means that he has a sort of hole in his heart. For proper blood circulation, the two atria of the heart are separated by a watertight partition. In Bessam’s case, the partition is incomplete, so the right side of the organ is exhausted under the work overload. Immediate intervention is required.
THE OPERATION THAT COULD SAVE HIS LIFE
Fortunately, Professor Victor Jebara, a Paris-trained cardiac surgeon, will be able to operate on Bessam. He and his team will close the septum between the atria by placing a patch over the orifice. This will immediately restore blood flow and circulation. An operation like this has an incompressible cost of €4,000.
But Bessam’s parents can’t afford to pay for such an intervention: his father is a house painter, his mother does housework, and at the moment, work is scarce.
BESSAM NEEDS YOUR HELP
Make a donation for children like Bessam
