11-year-old needs N3m for heart surgery

Ife-Oluwa Oyeleke

ELEVEN-year-old Ife-Oluwa Oyeleke was lively and playful; but now, her life is being threatened by a heart condition that has been diagnosed as mitral valvular prolapse.

Her father, Babatunde Oyeleke, said Ife-Oluwa was a JSS 1 pupil of Oluwatobi Progressive Secondary School, Olorunsogo, Ilorin, Kwara State before she became bedridden.

Oyeleke, who hails from Ogbomosho, Oyo State but resides in Ilorin, said he had exhausted all his savings and even sold some personal property to pay for his child’s treatment. The situation has only worsened, though.

He said Ife-Oluwa’s ill health became obvious last year when she collapsed while playing with peers at home.

“It was early January in 2013. She was playing around the home after returning from school when she suddenly collapsed. Neigbours and family members poured water on her and she was revived.

“After some months, she became sick again. We took her to one hospital in Ilorin, where the doctor treated her for typhoid fever. Three months later, she took ill again and we took her to our family doctor where we spent some days.

“The doctor confessed that he did not have the equipment to do appropriate tests and referred us to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. She spent about 21 days there before she was diagnosed of heart disease.

“The doctors said she needs N3m for the surgery, which we don’t have. I appeal to the federal and state governments, corporate organisations, groups and individuals to help me raise N3m for the treatment of my daughter,” he said.

A medical report by Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist, UITH, Dr. Abdulkadir M.B., states that Ife-Oluwa has been diagnosed with a structural heart disease (mitral valvular prolapse) which has made her heart to be abnormally large.