The Sunday News
THE first of November 2014 marked an important and eventful day for Abigail and Samuel Murinyo as that is the day they welcomed their baby Skyler Tamuda into the world. However, this joy was prematurely cut as they discovered their baby had a perforated heart and had been given only six months to live if she did not undergo a life-saving operation.
On 1 May the sixth month began.
Doctors told the family that they needed about $11 000 for the life-saving operation which can give baby Skyler a new lease of life but with time not on their side, the family is praying for a miracle to happen soon.
In a telephone interview, Mrs Murinyo said $5 000 would save her baby’s life and is asking for generous hands to help. She narrated her ordeal to Sunday News.
“I gave birth on 1 November last year and all was well. However, the paediatrician said the baby was having difficulties in breathing. We were then referred to a specialist who told us that Skyler had four holes in her heart,” she said.
Heartbroken is what this mother felt after hearing this news. Further consultations revealed that the baby actually had one huge hole which appeared as four because of its enormous size.
Mrs Murinyo said as the weeks went by and the baby was growing; so was the hole in her heart.
“As she was growing, the hole was also growing and it hasn’t stopped growing. Now the challenge is to raise $5 000 so that she gets an operation as soon as possible,” she said.
Skyler’s operation will be conducted in India as soon as the family secures funds and a medical team is aware that there is a baby that could visit their country as soon as funds are secured.
The Murinyos said they managed to secure $7 000 from their medical aid as that is what they were offered but the remainder still remains outstanding.
What is touching about this case is that last year in September Mr Murinyo also went to India for an operation and the family parted with a lot of money and soon after that Skyler was born with a serious condition that also requires thousands of dollars.
Mr Murinyo spoke about his condition.
“I was in India last year for a bilateral hip replacement and we spent a lot of money, now my daughter needs an operation too, handichazive zvekuita,” he said with a breaking voice.
The Murinyo family’s troubles read like that of a movie script of a sad life story as they move from one adversity to another.
Mr Murinyo is employed by the troubled parastatal, National Railways of Zimbabwe, whose financial burdens are no secret to Zimbabweans.
When he went for the double hip replacement in India last year, he applied for a cash advance of his salary and is now hardly earning anything.
“I get a payslip with a net salary of nothing, as I am paying back what I owe the company. So life is very hard for us. I am not getting paid. My wife was also on maternity leave and was on half salary so it has been a long and tough road,” he said.
Mrs Murinyo, who is a schoolteacher, lives in Harare with the child and is struggling to make ends meet as her meagre salary has to fend for the whole family. They also have two other children, one in Form One and the other in Grade Five that need attention.
Mr Murinyo said he was clueless on how to raise funds for his daughter and time was not on their side.
Skyler’s condition calls for various medicines to be administered on her and the family cannot afford most of the medication. She also has feeding problems and an operation would change the life of this baby.
Every day at around 2am, according to the Murinyo’s, Skyler wakes up and cannot sleep due to pain and discomfort in her body and she cries uncontrollably.
“I took her to Harare Hospital to be checked by the doctors there as I could not afford the specialist doctor that she has to go to. They said she was experiencing heart failure such that she was always in agony and has a permanent high body temperature due to the heart condition,” she said.
When Skyler turned six months on 1 May, Mrs Murinyo said she feared for the worst.
“I was scared. I did not know what was going to happen to her and did not know what to do since we were told the operation was needed before she was six months old. So we are just waiting for assistance so that she can be operated soon enough,” she said.
Many people who give birth to babies with disorders assume they did something wrong during their pregnancies which caused the disorder but usually it is not the case.
Heredity may play a role in some heart defects. For example, a parent who has a congenital heart defect is slightly more likely than other people to have a child who has the problem.
However, for the Murinyo’s, doctors linked the baby’s condition to their age.
“One doctor said we were a little bit old to have a child so it may have contributed to the child’s condition. I am 48 years old and my wife is 44, so doctors said it was not advisable that we had a child at these ages as it had an effect on the child’s development,” he said.
Health experts say there is an increased risk of disorders in babies born to parents over the age of 45 and also possible risk to the mother.
It is every mothers dream to see her child grow up and lead a normal life but for Mrs Murinyo it is a nightmarish experience as she does not know the fate of her daughter who still needs a life-saving operation.
