Features
BN Community Centre: Girl with Acyanotic Congenital Heart Defect
In March 2013, the BellaNaija team asked for your feedback on how to handle the issue of the emails we receive with regards soliciting for financial aid {Click here to read}. We were grateful for your feedback. Over the years, BellaNaija has published various feature stories on Nigerians in difficult situations and we are thankful that our BN Fam has supported in full force. From the man who was wrongly imprisoned for over a decade to and the struggling father suddenly saddled with major financial obligations due to the birth of his triplets.
During this time, we worked to get as much information as we could about different situations that was sent to us. In many cases, the people sending the emails don’t come back to us when we ask for more information. Sometimes they do and we are sceptical about the information given to us and as such we are unable to publish these stories. We will continue to publish these stories, however, we realize this is not enough.
While we are very concerned about the integrity of our brand and are conscious of the fact that there are too many fraudsters out there, we are definitely aware of the major challenges people go through every day.
If you’ve ever had a health-related issue in Nigeria, then you will probably understand that it is extremely difficult to fund your treatment and navigate the healthcare system. Even at the government hospitals (where health care service supposedly subsidized) you find yourself having to pay N50,000 here for something, another N18,000 for something else. Before you know it, you’ve spent hundreds of thousands of Naira. We all know how difficult it is to raise money, even amongst the most ‘comfortable’ people. While many save for a rainy day or have health insurance, most cannot afford to set aside a contingency sum for sudden major illnesses.
In view of this, BellaNaija is launching the BN Community Centre. This online platform will feature “calls for help” as submitted to us. This includes information, photos and account numbers. We are, however, stating categorically that we are doing only basic fact checking, therefore, we will not be held liable in ANY circumstance.
We encourage you to give if you can, however, please ensure you perform independent verification prior to donating any funds.
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Hi Aunty Bella,
How are you doing? I hope this email meets you well.
I’m Tochi from the Humans of Lagos project. Humans of Lagos is a street photography project that captures the lives of everyday Lagosians, telling their story one shutter at a time. It was inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Hony.
On the page earlier in the week, we featured a woman and her little daughter. The girl has acyanotic congenital heart defect a hole in the heart and she needs to be flown to India for a corrective surgery. The initial plan was to share the story on the page and try and get celebrities or an NGO involved to help the family but help wasn’t forthcoming and some of our instagram users suggested we open a gofundme account crowdsource the funds and see how far we can go with it. So far we’ve raised over two thousand five hundred dollars and still have a long way to go before we meet the target.
We beg you to please help us share their story on your blog so it can have a wider reach and people who want to help can be able to help. We know you get loads of request on a daily basis but please help us post this and help save Lillian’s life. Please we really need your help. Below is the Mum and Vivian’s story and a link to the go fund me page. May God continue to Bless you. Thanks and do have a great weekend.
Vivian’s mum’s story
“When Vivian was your 10 months old, she fell ill and was crying and vomiting I took her to the hospital thinking it was something minor. She was diagnosed and the doctor told us she has acyanotic congenital heart condition. A hole in the heart. I didn’t fully understand what he meant then. I was just hearing about that type of sickness for the first time. They said she needs to be flown to India for a corrective surgery since then we’ve been trying to raise the money. We’ve gone to the Lagos state Government and they told us that funds to take care of such issues hasn’t been released we’ve been placed on waiting for a long time. We also went to Kanu heart foundation and we were shocked when they gave us forms and told us to use it to go and appeal for funds from our friends that we are responsible for raising the money. Since then we’ve been going up and down and no success yet. Her case is getting worse and last month she started vomiting blood from the nose and mouth, we rushed her to the hospital and they said they were signs of respiratory distress, tachycardia and further features of heart disease were confirmed. The doctor advised we do the surgery as fast as possible. I can’t stand seeing her in pains, each time I just start crying and asking why her? Why She has to suffer like this. I just feel helpless whenever I see her in pains like we are just watching her and counting down.”
Vivian’s story –
“I’ve stopped going to school cos I’m not feeling fine. I miss my friends in school I also miss Aunty Lola. I like Aunty Lola cos she doesn’t flog me in class. I want to be a lawyer when I grow up.” #HumansOfLagos
Little Vivian has acyanotic congenital heart defect (a hole in the heart) we are currently raising funds for her surgery in India. So far we’ve raised $2600 and we still need $12,400 to meet the target. The doctors advised the surgery be carried out as soon as possible.
To donate visit the gofundme link: http://www.gofundme.com/
God bless you as you help save Vivian’s life.
Please visit www.instagram.com/thehumansoflagos | www.facebook.com/humansoflagosng
Share and tag your friends… let’s join hands and save Vivian.
