About Asdenaki
Asdenaki is a 17-year-old boy from Bansa, a small village in the southern part of Ethiopia. His mom passed away when he was 4 years old, and his dad is blind. He comes from a very poor family. Since his blind father could not support him financially, Asdenaki is dependent on his uncle for educational and financial support.
His condition
Asdenaki suffered from an acute obstruction of blood from his left ventricle due to congenital anomaly of right coronary sinus (which are critical to providing oxygenation to the heart itself).
As you can see from the video taken prior to his surgery, he was severely ill that he could barely walk or take enough breath to speak. He needed an emergency open heart surgery in order to survive
What was needed to save his life?
Asdenaki had an aneurysm (enlargement of an artery caused by a weakening of the artery wall) blockage in his artery and needed an urgent heart surgery called unroofing of the right coronary artery. This kind of surgery is very rare throughout the world.
Except for the wealthy who can pay for surgery out of their pocket, such urgent cases go untreated in Ethiopia. Open heart surgeries are not usually available on an emergency basis in Ethiopia. Healing Valves Ethiopia organized a team of cardiac care professionals for an urgent operation to save Asdenaki’s life.
It would have been impossible to save Asdenaki’s life without the volunteer professionals of Healing Valves Ethiopia and the financial help of donors to Healing Valves North America.
Surgery/procedure plan and execution
His surgery took more than four hours with effective performance by the local team of volunteers led by cardiac surgeon Dr. Fekede Agwar. The initial plan was to fix the aneurysm with likely replacement of the aortic valve. However, the surgeon successfully repaired the aneurysm without replacing Asdenaki’s native valve.
This was great news for Asdenaki because he will not need to continually take blood thinning medicine which he would have had to do if his valve was replaced with a mechanical one.
Post-surgery progress
Asdenaki had a quick recovery. He was discharged from the hospital three days after the surgery with a big smile on his face. Asdenaki is doing great now and is back to Hawassa to live with his uncle. For his routine post-surgery follow-ups, Asdenaki sees cardiologists in Hawassa who collaborate with Dr. Fekede.
Thank you!
Healing Valves North America made a call for donors to help pay for Asdenaki’s surgery. With donors from USA and Ethiopia, the needed funds were raised to provide Asdenaki with lifesaving care. If it were not for the frantic efforts of both Healing Valves Ethiopia and Healing Valves North America, Asdenaki would not be alive today.
We are forever grateful for all the financial support you make to Healing Valves North America. You are saving a life and giving a gift of life to those who need it most.
