A ray of hope and reselience

By Luke Kung’u & Yvonne Gichuru

Amultidisciplinary team of medical specialists from Kenyatta National Hospital led by Dr. Naomi Gachara, a Paediatric Cardiologist, successfully carried out a four (4)-hour highly delicate and complicated Tetralogy repair surgery on two-year-old baby Carson Micky. He is a child of Rose Mirema and Eric Otieno Mirema.

Baby Carson was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot at birth in 2020. This is a rare condition caused by a combination of four heart defects that are present at birth which limits blood flow out of the heart and into the rest of the body: a hole in the wall between the two lower chambers, a narrowing of the pulmonary valve and main pulmonary artery, enlarged aortic valve and the muscular wall of the lower right chamber of the heart (right ventricle) being thicker than normal.

It is a birth defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart; leading to bluish-looking skin color called cyanosis because the blood doesn’t carry enough oxygen.

It happens when a baby’s heart does not form correctly as the baby grows and develops in the mother’s womb during pregnancy.

Two weeks after the diagnosis, doctors from the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital referred baby Carson to KNH for specialized treatment. He was admitted on January 10, 2022, with the surgery being conducted on January 18, 2022.

Unfortunately, young Carson developed complications right after the operation such as pneumonia, lung complications, and kidney failure, which necessitated a multidisciplinary team of specialists that included intensivists (medical personnel specially trained to look after very sick patients round the clock), paediatric

“Baby Carson was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot at birth in 2020. This is a rare condition caused by a combination of four heart defects that are present at birth which limits blood flow out of the heart and into the rest of the body.” cardiologists, renal and nursing team among others to take care of him during his two months stay in the ICU and during his admission to Ward 4B.

KNH is the only hospital in the public sector that has the capacity both in personnel/expertise and supporting infrastructure to carry out highly delicate successful surgeries.

As such there are several patients on the waiting list since KNH attends to 3-4 patients per week against the reported cases in need of specialized surgery.

In such cases as for Carson, it limits the number of surgeries since it requires quite involving care (24/7) and a long duration of time in post-operation care (2 months ICU care).

Baby Carson has been given a clean bill of health and is expected to live an active, healthy life as well as attend regular follow-up visits to monitor progress.