Strangest Disease! Emily Was Born With A Gaping Hole In Her Heart. How She Survives Will Make You Cry (Photos)

By Martin Oduor on May 6, 2016

How she has managed to survive this long only God knows!

Emily’s mother has a plea to all Kenyans:

Greetings… My name is Linet and I’m sorry to bother you like this. You’re busy,I know. Eating maybe. Working… Socializing… Planning… Dancing… Laughing… Swimming… Listening to music… Reading… Studying…Drinking… Traveling… Sorry then for the disturbance.

Unlike you, I’ve been pretty busy of late, unable to go to work, praying for my husband to find work, trying to keep my crumbling family together and most importantly, watching over my severely sick girl.

My little angel, Emily, is suffering from a deadly heart condition called Type 1 Truncus Arteriousus meaning, Little Emily has a hole in her little heart. Emily struggles to do everything… To breathe, to move, to open her eyes, to move her limbs, she even struggles to live.

Well, Emily cannot even eat. I have to feed her liquids. And I’m yet to even wean her. She cannot swallow as easily. That would surely kill her. Emily has to live on liquids daily. I wish she had the energy to swallow. But she just doesn’t.

My little Emily has driven me out of work. Not that I even have a very good job anyway. Or a job in the first place. I am a market woman. I sell wares and little things for profit… But Emily has driven me out of the market. And I have to sit with her at home… Watch her struggle to live. And watch her beg to be whole.

You see, her father, my beloved husband Benedict is jobless. And that has made things here pretty thick. I won’t lie to you.

Little Emily sits at a corner all day. I put her on the sofa… And she has to sits there, fixed at the corner, unable to move or yap or smile all day. Her heart pounds hard. And her little headaches to a point of almost splitting apart. She evens looks much older than her age. And the sad sight of her little round shaved head breaks my heart.

Little Emily has appeared on QTV. And on Family TV too… To talk about her condition, the hole in her delicate heart and the slim chances of her survival. We took her to almost all media houses. But only QTV and Family TV opened their doors and aired our story.

I sit across from her and watch her wish she wasn’t where she was. Does she wish she was tottering around? Playing around? Prancing around? Does she wish Mummy had a job? Or maybe Daddy was employed? Does she wish we weren’t so stick poor? Maybe she does.

Emily far too sickly to worry me about her actions. I see her labored breathing and I can’t hide back my tears.

She’s been to Hurlingham, at Dr. Christine Jowi’s hospital. You see, Dr. Jowi is a cardiologist. And after little Emily met Dr. Jowi, it was made clear to me and her daddy, Little Emily had a hole in her heart. And needed Urgent surgery in India.

You don’t tell people like us to seek surgery in another hospital. Leave alone India. I sell tomatoes for a living. Baba Emily hasn’t brought much to the house for months. We barely even have money to catch a snack at the kiosk outside the Hurlingham Hospital. And now India? I mean we couldn’t even afford the local clinic we first took Emily to.

I see mothers like me… In malls and stores and stalls and markets and shops. I see them, accompanied by their little girls, buying the little girls stuff.. Little shoes, goofy hats, Little princess dresses, bangles, ribbons, balloons, stuff.

Wish I could do so too. But little Emily doesn’t know it’s Christmas, Easter or any other important holiday. Neither do I. All I know is; It’s yet another day, another struggle and another pain. Watching little Emily look up at me, wondering why she’s so tiny, wondering why she never adds weight, wondering why she never moves, wondering why she breathes with so much difficulty, wondering why we are always in clinics, wondering why she never seems to grow and wondering when she’s gonna jump around. And smile because it’s Christmas or Easter.

Emily and I have a little request. I am asking you, on her sickly innocent behalf, would you please spare a thought?

Little Emily needs 700,000 for a surgery in India. Which will forever fix her heart.

If only 7000 Kenyans each spared a hundred Bob and sent it to us. Little Emily will be grateful for her lifetime.

Oh by the way, from the TV appearances, she did make as much as Ksh. 145,000. And we were shocked and incredibly thankful. Oh yes, even after local entertainment website Ghafla! did her story, again, Little Emily did receive some Ksh. 10,000 plus in donations.

Local Gospel Artist Bahati even stepped in and shared her story widely on Facebook and Instagram and she made an extra Ksh. 50,000. We were overwhelmed with joy.

Kindly, to donate to Little Emily, and take her to a surgeon’s bed abroad, Here’s the simple process…

To DONATE TO BABY Emily kindly use the M-PESA Paybill Number Medical Paybill No. 317111

How to Donate & Save the Life of Little Emmy :

• Go to M-PESA Menu

• Select LIPA NA MPESA then Pay Bill.

• Enter Paybill No. 317111

• Enter Your First Name as account Number

• Enter Amount e.g 10 Bob

• Enter your M-PESA PIN

Also, you can donate via Emily’s special medical BANK account which is Acc number: 10131301000369 Emily Atieno Adongo Medical Account. Bank is CONSOLIDATED BANK.

You can also reach and donate directly to her uncle, Kennedy Omondi directly via 0728629726. He’s in Nairobi coordinating the efforts.

Blessings.

Love,