Many of you will recall our #backEzra appeal, in August 2015, which aimed to raise vital funds to send baby Ezra to Europe, where we hoped he would receive life-saving heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart.
Ezra was very unwell when he arrived at Open Arms, but his condition was soon diagnosed by Dr Kennedy at Blantyre University Hospital as a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), which essentially translates as a hole in the wall that separates the two lower chambers of the heart.
Clearly, you were all incredibly moved by Ezra’s plight and we were overwhelmed by the amount of support we received to our campaign. In early December, we were thrilled to be able to send Ezra, together with his care-giver, Juliana, to Germany to visit the world-leading Leipzig Heart Centre.
Ezra was quickly admitted to the paediatric cardiac ward, and a series of investigations were undertaken to understand his condition more fully. Unfortunately, these detailed tests revealed further complications that the tests available in Malawi were unable to detect. Regrettably, due to identifying unusually high pulmonary pressures for a child of such a young age, the doctors concluded that continuing with heart surgery would be extremely high risk and may actually shorten, rather than lengthen, Ezra’s life.
Naturally, we were extremely disappointed to hear this news, but we were encouraged to discover that, with the right medication and support, Ezra could expect to live a happy and comfortable life, with a life-expectancy of up to 20 years.
Ezra is now back home in Blantyre, and already the doctors in Leipzig have been liaising closely with his cardiologist to advise on the best course of treatment moving forward.
Juliana will continue to look after him and provide him with the care and support he needs.
We hope those of you who supported Ezra’s cause will take comfort from knowing that we did everything we could to give Ezra the best possible chance of a normal life, and we are hugely grateful to you all for your contributions to our campaign and your wonderful words of support.
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