In Mozambique, Céleste grows up with difficulty

2-year-old Céleste lives with her parents in Boane, a suburb of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.

Very soon after birth, Céleste’s mother realized that her daughter had a problem: one day, while giving her a bath, the little girl stopped breathing for a moment… What was going on? The mother rushed with the child to Matola hospital, close to her home. There, the doctors detected nothing abnormal. But in the weeks that followed, the child lost weight – she just kept getting thinner!

Even more worried, his mother decided to go back to hospital for further tests. This time, the doctors diagnosed a serious heart defect and referred him to the Heart Institute (ICOR ) in Maputo, our partner hospital which cares for children with serious heart conditions.

Help us register Céleste for surgery

Céleste suffers from a rare and complex heart defect: she was born with what is known as a “transposition of the great vessels”. This anomaly disrupts blood circulation. Céleste’s survival is a first miracle! Usually, children with this condition require surgery within the first few days of life. It’s urgent that we take action, as the little girl is running out of steam more and more every day! We need your help to perform a second miracle: open-heart surgery to enable Celeste to grow up harmoniously and enjoy a future free of suffering.

Very soon, our friend Dr Régis Gaudin, cardio-pediatric surgeon, and his team from theHôpital Necker-Enfants malades in Paris will be at the ICOR in Maputo to operate on some fifteen children. A vital opportunity for Céleste! We can add her to the surgical program, but the operation that will save her represents an incompressible cost: 8,000 euros.

An operation too costly for parents

Céleste’s mother doesn’t work and her father is a bricklayer. They live in a cinder-block house with a tin roof, with no running water or electricity. In these conditions, how can we ask them to contribute to the cost of the operation? You’re all they’ve got left to hope for.

Together, let’s save it!