Bravehearts of the Foundation: Sudharsan

Five years old Sudharsan was born on 3rd December 2014 and is the youngest child of Sumithra and Veerappan from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu. He has an elder sister who is 8 years old. Veerappan is a labourer and earns a humble income of Rs 8000 a month. During childhood, Sudharsan was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. During infancy he used to get frequent chest infections. He was shown to multiple doctors, but the exact cause could not be ascertained. With passage of time, he used to get breathlessness and had difficulty in walking.  Parents constantly remained distressed about their child’s health condition and consulted a pediatrician in Thanjavaur. After an Echo, he was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), which means he had a hole in between the lower chambers of the heart and a narrowing of Pulmonary Valve. He required open heart surgery. The parents were referred to GKNM Hospital for further management. An echo was conducted again, and the result showed that the child had TOF with severe infundibular and valvar stenosis. He required TOF correction. Parents were counselled for the surgery. Veerappan made profound efforts but could not manage to arrange the total cost of the surgery. He managed to put together a sum of Rs 13,200 towards the surgery. Hospital sought our support and we were able to pay for the child’s successful surgery. The child was operated and discharged in stable condition. Sudharsan will start going to school from next session.