Bravehearts of the Foundation: Mayuri

Our Foundation is always looking at expanding our network of CSR support and donors who are aligned with our cause to Save Little Hearts. We work towards our mission, a future where India is devoid of CHD related deaths that occur within children. Every donation for child surgery contributes towards this envisioned future where we believe no child deserves to die because of no money for treatment. Each one has a right to live, economic status should not determine this right and that is in the core of all the work that we do.

This is a story about Mayuri Lala Garde who is seven years old and is the middle child of the family. She has an elder sister and younger brother. Her siblings are well and have no health issue, but Mayuri was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. She studies in Class 1 at a Government school in Pune and had been falling behind academically as her health was never okay. Her parents Madhuri and Lala Mahadev took her to various hospitals and consulted many doctors but a clear diagnosis was never made so they were always left in the dark. Until one day, a routine health check-up at school was conducted and Mayuri was detected with a murmur in her heart.

The family was immediately referred to Jupiter Hospital in Pune, one of our partnered hospitals.

When Mayuri reached the hospital a detailed assessment through an echocardiography was done which showed that she had two large ventricular septal defects, with one measuring 1.8cm in the posterior muscular septum and the second was 2cm. She also had Grade 1 straddling of the tricuspid valve. Usually, this valve is on the right side of the heart between the atrium and the ventricles and has attachments only on the right side of the inter-ventricular septum. In her unique case, she had the attachments on the left side because of the large holes in her heart. Taking all this into serious consideration, it made her repair life-saving surgery extremely challenging. The lung pressure observed was also significantly high. Now, both parents were finally made aware of their daughter’s condition but they were at a complete loss as they couldn’t understand why this was happening to their daughter. It’s a question that is often asked silently by the conscious mind, “why us?”.

The doctors counselled the family and made them understand the importance of surgery to save Mayuri’s life. Lala Mahadev could not hold back his tears as he felt overwhelmed and defeated by life. One can only imagine what it feels like for a parent to watch their child’s health slip away and to not have any means of saving her. All his friends pooled in and lent him Rs 10,000 towards Mayuri’s surgery. Lala Mahadev is a driver and earns Rs 3000 per month with which he has five mouths to feed and look after. With CSR donation for child surgery for CHD from K&S Partners we were able to contribute Rs 137,500, the required amount to bring Mayuri’s heart back to health.

She is now recovering back home and awaiting to join school. Her parents are grateful to the Foundation and are so relieved to see their daughters face beaming with a smile.