Annual check up no Blue Day for family
emerges when we experience personal crisis. Following the consultation, Unakho jumps off her bed in the day clinic ward and goes straight to distributing goody bags and cookies.
“She’s very active,” says Dr Goosen. “Always organising everybody.”
And the team of supporters is growing. Unakho’s schoolmates and teachers at West Bank High donate goodies, while “Team Lee”, started by Ndimpiwe Mhlontla after his young son died in 2013 of what he believes to be congenital heart disease, also visits the clinics.
Noxolo’s colleague in the neo-natal unit at CMH, Ntombi Mpendukana, is one of the supporters of the clinics. “We’re the first people to diagnose these babies and it is very interesting to see them here, big and growing,” she says.
Noxolo laments the fact that while CHD can be detected in utero from 20 weeks into pregnancy, or shortly after birth, too often these testing measures are not implemented by staff in government and private clinics and hospitals.
One result of this is children being misdiagnosed. Children with breathing problems – an indicator of CHD – are often instead treated for asthma. BY THE backpacks filled with kid’s stuff, the annual cardiac check-up for the Bennet family from East London seems like just another casual fun day out.
It’s anything but. Mikenza, 7, and Kellan, 4, both suffer from congenital heart disease, specifically tetralogy of fallot or more commonly known as “blue baby syndrome”, a complex condition which usually manifests at birth.
Both children have had open heart surgery at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital to correct their condition, Mikenza at six months and her brother at five months. This is their annual check-up. Parents Elize and Craig seem to have the preparations down to a fine art. They’ve seen their children through stints in private and state hospitals in East London and Cape Town.
Initially, Mikenza was diagnosed by a private doctor who referred the family to Dr Maurice Levy at Frere. They’ve been consulting Levy ever since, although Mikenza’s first operation was performed by Dr Susan Vosloo at the private Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town.
“We’ve had no problems at Frere. We’ve received excellent service and we’re very happy. As a result, we didn’t stop coming here. We prefer it to the private facilities because of the service rendered.”
Although they’ve had a long wait in the queue outside, Mikenza, 7, and Kellan, 4, seem to pass through the examination room in a flash and the relief at another positive milestone is visible across their parents’ faces as they leave the hospital.