By Joyce Nyakato
WHEN Resty Naturinda was pregnant with her first child, she was excited. She set off for Mulago hospital at the first sign that she was in labour. The first doctor who checked her noticed the irregularity of the child’s heartbeat.

By the time she called on to her gynaecologist, the baby’s heartbeat had gone back to normal. The labour was prolonged and a caesarean was done to save the baby.

Unfortunately when Joel was born,
his skin was not normal. It was blue instead of pink. The doctors put him on oxygen supply in the newborn special care unit because his breathing was laboured and monitored him but his condition did not improve.

An X-ray on his lungs gave the doctors no clue about the cause because the lungs were fine. He was moved to the Uganda Heart Institute at Mulago for heart tests which revealed he was suffering from a congenital (present at birth) heart disorder, transposition of the great ateries.

The news was a big blow to Naturinda. Unlike normal babies, Joel does not have the strength to suckle because his heart is so weak. He feeds through a plastic tube in his nose, past the throat and down into the stomach.

“I wake up every two hours to
express milk and feed him,” Naturinda
says. He was discharged from the hospital and now awaits an operation in India.

However, the parents cannot afford the huge costs of the operation which
was supposed to have been done last
week. The mother comes for monitoring
at the outpatients clinic to have the
feeding tube changed. He has gained
a little weight since birth but needs
the operation to recover fully.

His life is dependent on that one operation. Wellwishers can donate money to account number 3020534080, Centenary Bank, Entebbe Road branch. The account name is Yerindabo Yubu. Baby Joel needs sh30m for the surgery.