Va’alele Fa’amatai, of Vaisigano and Lauli’i, needs your help.
The mother is seeking financial help from the community to support her 12-year-old-daughter, Fa’ama’au’s heart operation in New Zealand later this month.
To be precise, they need $3,100 for their airfares.
Va’alele is a mother of five and her daughter attends Moata’a Primary School.
She told the Samoa Observer that they only found out about her daughter’s heart condition when doctors visited her school to check for rheumatic fever in 2012.
“They told me that she has a hole in her heart and it needs to be treated before it gets worse,” she said.
“Doctors at Moto’otua Hospital did all that they could and they told me that the government will pay for my daughter’s operation but we have to find our own air fares.”
Va’alele is the only one who works in her family.
“After I pay everything – including all our loans - I am left with $50 to last us for two weeks.”
“It’s hard because I have four other children who are depending on me and now with my daughter’s condition, I just don’t know what to do.”
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The mother said she applied for $3,000 loan from a local commercial bank. It was rejected. Later, however, the bank granted $1,200.
“I was sad but because I only earn $7,999 each year which is why I couldn’t get a bigger loan,” she said.
That money has since been spent to process passports and visa applications.
Her husband’s family also donated $1,000 to help.
However, their airfares need to be paid.
Speaking about her daughter’s condition, the mother broke down.
“It’s very hard because I can see that my daughter is still young and has her whole future ahead of her,” she said.
“She can’t lead a normal life, she can’t play any sports or have fun with other children. So if this operation is the only way to heal my daughter, I will go out of my way to get her to that operation.”
The condition, she says, is worsening.
And it is affecting her emotionally, physically and mentally.
“The doctors said the more Fa’ama’au grows, the bigger the hole in her heart gets and that is why this operation is very important because this might be the only chance that I will ever get to save my daughter.”
“I had nowhere to go and so I remember the Samoa Victim Support Group and that is why I came here.”
Fa’amau joined her mother’s heartfelt plea.
“I am very scared,” she told the Samoa Observer. “Sometime it hurts so much. I want to be able to play with my friends but I can’t because I’m scared that something bad might happen to me.”
Fa’ama’au needs to be at the Star Ship Hospital in New Zealand on the 25th of this month.
If you want to help Fa’ama’au, please contact the S.V.S.G on 25392 or 7576601 and ask for the President of the S.V.S.G., Lina Chang.
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