Bringing hope to hearts

Bringing hope to hearts

Durban – When paediatric nurse Susan Sibiya held her newborn daughter in her arms for the first time, she noticed her baby’s pulse was racing and she was groaning.

She breastfed baby Refilwe who then fell asleep.

“But after 24 hours she wasn’t sleeping quietly. She was making noises and groaning and a colleague came to check and said her heart wasn’t right,” Sibiya said.

“I didn’t know what to do and I came home after eight days. But then after a few days, I went to my mom and told her the child was dying because her breathing was shallow and she was turning blue.”

Sibiya admitted Refilwe to the hospital where she became the first baby at Dr George Mukhari Hospital, then Ga-Rankuwa Hospital, north of Pretoria, to be diagnosed with a rare congenital heart disorder, truncus arteriosus, caused by the abnormal development of the heart.

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