A mother’s love knows no boundaries when her child needed heart surgery to save his life.
Leonisa Sekotala and her three-year-old son Charles Tarabaku travelled thousands of kilometres by plane from their home in Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands for his heart surgery.
Her son was discharged from the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital in Suva yesterday.
The 37-year-old mother found out her ‘King Charles’ had a congenital heart disease known as Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) during a pneumonia outbreak last year.
“When they told me about the operation, even my parents didn’t want to send my son to Fiji because of the risk of him having surgery so young,” she said.
“But I prayed and God told me to bring my child here to have his surgery and he is recovering well.”
She said through the helping hands of doctors, donors and members of the Solomon community in Fiji, she was able to raise SBD25,000 ($F6710) to fund their trip to Fiji.
For five-year-old Tevita Bainicagi, he travelled from Beqa two days before having his heart surgery at the hospital in Nasese.
His father Peni Totoga said he also flew from Brisbane, Australia to be with his son.
He said the medical team from the hospital visited the island for screening in 2022 when they found out he had heart disease.
“I am working overseas, and we had come in on Tuesday,” he said.
“I trusted the doctors so I was relieved that my son came out of surgery and now he is good.”
Mr Totoga urged parents and guardians to make use of the free heart screening and operations being done at the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital.
