Madhumathi

“Your mother says you are nine years old and you are in Grade 6? Are you sure?” The small girl looks at us and says emphatically, “I am in Grade 6” and as if to double check, counts her Grade on her fingers.  Her uncle and mother pull out some identity documents from a small worn out bag and give these to us. The papers place Madhumathi’s age at 11. The lack of clarity about the girl’s age is not uncommon in rural India where poverty and low education levels mean that awareness about going to a hospital to deliver a baby or even registering the birth is still not high. 

In January 2018 Madhumathi travelled to  Chennai with her mother from their village close to the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to undergo a major open heart surgery that doctors are confident will allow Madhumathi see adulthood. Despite her frail appearance, Madhumathi’s eyes shine with curiosity and life. The middle of three children, Madhumathi is in the 6th Grade and though frail, looks like any other teenager. However, simple every day activities like running on the playground were not easy for her as she immediately felt breathless. Diagnosed with a defect in the lower chamber, her heart was unable to pump blood efficiently and the low oxygen levels manifested in the clubbing of her fingers and the bluish tint of her skin. 

“She is enrolled in school but misses classes because of her health but her teachers are kind,” says her mother, Mangamma. Despite their poverty, the girl’s parents put together the funds needed for a surgery. However, the surgery did not correct the problem and they were referred for a second surgery to a private hospital in Chennai, which had an excellent team of cardiologists.

The second surgery, a palliative procedure called Fontan, though cost money, which the parents did not have. Her father drives an auto for a living and her mother is a homemaker. Yet, they were determined to seek help for their daughter. The doctors in Chennai requested Hope Unlimited to meet the family. Madhumathi’s case fit the criteria of Hope Unlimited to support cost of surgery for girls under age 15 with congenital heart disease. The Trust shared the costs of the surgery with another Foundation in Chennai. Though now she is weak post the surgery, Madhumathi cannot wait to go home and eat her favourite food: chicken cooked by her mother! The girl, who is recovering well, wants to become a doctor when she grows up.

(January 2018)