Bravehearts of the Foundation: Alakananda

Alakananda is a six year old girl from a remote village in Calicut, Kerala. She was born on 7th October 2012 with a birth weight of 2.79 kg. Her mother was delighted when she held her first daughter in her arms but on the 2nd day of her baby’s life she was noted to have murmur and cyanosis and was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Defect – Ebstein’s anomaly of tricuspid valve. Her parents were distraught as this was their first child and they did not know what to do. The child was on regular follow up in Calicut Medical College. She was seen by Pediatric Cardiologist (Dr Shine Kumar) and Surgeon (Dr Brijesh P K) from the Amrita Institute during the monthly outreach clinic at Calicut Ashram on January 2017. She was later referred to the Amrita Institute for further management. A detailed investigation was done at the Amrita Institute on January 25th 2017 by Dr Shine Kumar who confirmed the diagnosis. During a joint cardiac conference that was conducted on 28 January by the Pediatric Cardiologists and surgeons, they decided to do a Tricuspid Valve repair for the baby. The parents were called and Dr Shine Kumar counselled the family about the need for surgery. Her parents were very worried about the cost of the surgery as her father is a carpenter and earns only Rs 250 (USD 3) daily and that also depends on the availability of work. She is the only child to her parents but still the huge cost of surgery is a burden for the family. The family reached out to the Genesis Foundation and thanks to the financial aid provided by our donors through our Life Project, Alakananda has been operated on, discharged and is now healthy and doing well. She has even rejoined school and is currently in Class 1.