A 38 year old father of Lotopa, Sio Seu and his wife Penelope Taufao 32 of Luatuanuu are desperately in need of help for their six month old son, Macristmas Sio Macristmas was diagnosed at birth with Cyanotic Heart Disease.
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He has subsequently been referred overseas for cardiac surgery but due to financial constraints on the family’s part and other social issues, Macristmas has not been able to travel to New Zealand for this surgery yet.
According to a letter from Dr Fiona Hunt, a visiting cardiologist Dr Nigel Wilson who saw him here, has again pushed the family to bring the child for surgery before it’s too late.
The couple had nowhere to turn and they sought assistance from the Samoa Victim Support Group for financial help for their visas and their airfares to New Zealand for their son’s operation.
Sio is a taxi driver at Fili’s taxi stand but doesn’t make enough money to cover the costs needed, and his wife Penelope is unemployed.
The family used to live at Luatuanu'u with Penelope’s mother’s family but they recently moved to stay with Sio’s family at Lotopa because it is closer to the hospital for their baby’s regular checkups.
Baby Macristmas should be in New Zealand before the end of this month for special heart surgery, the parents were told by Dr Fiona Hunt.
Both mother and child have been granted approval from the Cabinet to travel to New Zealand for treatment but Lio and his wife Penelope are asking for any assistance to help with the extra costs of visas and airfares so their son can have this vital operation.
Donations for this family can be made directly to the office of Samoa Victim Support Group on 25392 or 27904. Cyanotic Heart Disease
According to Medline Plus, Cyanotic Heart Disease refers to a group of many different heart defects that are present at birth (congenital) that result in a low blood oxygen level.
Normally, blood returns from the body and flows through the heart and lungs.
• Blood that is low in oxygen (blue blood) returns from the body to the right side of the heart.
• The right side of the heart then pumps the blood to the lungs, where it picks up more oxygen and becomes red.
• The oxygen-rich blood returns from the lungs to the left side of the heart. From there, it is pumped to the rest of the body. Heart defects that children are born with can change the way blood flows through the heart and lungs and cause non-oxygenated blood to be pumped out to the body without going through the lungs to pick up oxygen.
As a result:
• The blood that is pumped out to the body is lower in oxygen.
• Less oxygen delivered to the body can make the skin look blue (cyanosis) Many of these heart defects involve the heart valves. Heart valves are found between the heart and the large blood vessels that bring blood to and from the heart. These valves open up enough for blood to flow through. Then they close, keeping blood from flowing backward.
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