Christ-Love is a student from Haiti. Christ-Love lives in Port-au-Prince with her mother. She is in the ninth grade and enjoys going to church and helping her mother around the house. Christ-Love has a cardiac condition called severe aortic regurgitation. One of the valves in her heart is severely damaged from a rheumatic fever she suffered as a child, and it cannot adequately pump blood through her body. Two years ago, she had open-heart surgery to replace another valve that was also damaged; at the time, she was too weak to try to replace both valves at the same time, and so now that her heart is stronger after the first surgery, the team can go back to replace the second valve.
Christ-Love will fly to Cayman Islands to receive treatment. On December 27, she will undergo cardiac surgery, during which surgeons will replace her damaged valve with an artificial implant.. Another organization, Have a Heart Cayman, is contributing $24,000 to pay for surgery.
Christ-Love’s family also needs help to fund the costs of surgery prep. The $1,500 bill covers labs, medicines, and checkup and followup appointments. It also supports passport obtainment and the social workers from our medical partner, Haiti Cardiac Alliance, who will accompany Christ-Love’s family overseas.
She says, “I am glad that I can be almost normal once my second valve is fixed!”