Hello lovely readers. I’m really excited to welcome you all into this beautiful new year. We can all agree that 2020 was generally a tough one but I am grateful and quite sure you are too, for the Grace to ride into 2021.
In the light of my excitement, I welcome you specially to our first post of the year. Yay! 🎉🎉
It’s a post from one of our guest writers, Mr. Samuel Chukwujekwu, a Cardiac Sonographer, who narrates one of his work experiences and leaves us with a very intriguing but controversial question demanding an answer. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts but first, here’s his story:
A 3-year-old child was brought in for an echo examination, and afterwards, we diagnosed Tetralogy of Fallot. It is a situation where there are four major damages to the heart;
1. A big hole in the heart causing blood from its two bigger rooms (one holding oxygen-rich blood and the other holding oxygen-poor blood), to mix up.
2. Because of the big hole, the pipe/artery through which only oxygen-rich blood should pass through now receives both oxygen-rich and some part of oxygen-poor blood because of the mix-up.
3. One of the arteries transferring oxygen-poor blood to the lungs for oxygenation is very narrow and only small volumes get through to the lungs and is oxygenated.
4. The right bigger room in the heart has its walls so thick it can’t expand to receive the oxygen-poor blood after it has circulated round the body.
This is a normal heart and how blood should flow:
This is what Tetralogy of Fallot looks like:
We told the parents of the child that he needed a complex surgery in which we open the heart and fix it. It costs 5 million naira and its done in the hospital competently with a very positive recovery rate as the child was still very young.
Unknown to us, the parents are members of the Jehovah witness religious sect. They responded against the surgery if it would require a blood transfusion, as it is against their religious belief to receive blood transfused from another human.
If surgery is not done, chances of this child living up to 15 years would be a miracle.
On the other hand, if surgery is done, there is a 3% chance of the child dying during surgery and a 91.6% chance of survival leading to a long healthy life.
If as a parent you happen to be in such situation, would you accept blood transfusion and forsake your beliefs/faith, or would you leave your child to battle his fate?
Would you deny your faith, if it was the only way to save your child’s life?
Please don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments section and click on the subscribe button below. Also, you can share this post on your social media platforms or tag your friends to the conversation and see what their take is on the situation. Ask them to leave their thoughts as well in the comments section. Let’s get talking!
Remember to stay safe.
Your friend,
Maureen.
Medtrix 