Alex

Alex's story

Obro Alex-Samuel Felix Gerard is already a boy when he arrives in Italy to treat his congenital heart disease. His story begins very early: Alex is born prematurely, at 31 weeks, weighing 1.5 kg. His mother, in fact, is diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and has to undergo emergency surgery.

At 15 days, then 1 month after birth, Alex manifests respiratory difficulties for which he is given oxygen. These crises are followed, each time, by a pleural effusion. Following these events, the pediatrician immediately prescribes some in-depth exams because he suspects a heart murmur.

The tests are carried out at the Cardiology Institute of Abidjan where the cardiopediatrician detects a congenital malformation of the heart called CIA and one of the lung called pulmonary stenosis.

Alex is three months old. This news is a shock for his mother who, having lost brothers and sisters at a young age, is very anxious about the health of her little one. This fear is also accompanied by the fear of the necessary care and of not being able to sustain the costs.

Alex's illness has a major impact on the family, both from a management and economic point of view. The sisters, the father and Alex himself, when he is old enough to understand, are made aware of the management program that includes daily attention but also visits to the Cardiologist every three months and medical visits (Imaging and laboratories) that are also expensive. Fortunately, Alex's mother manages to find a job through teleworking that allows her to reconcile the constant care of her son and the resources to meet other family expenses.

Up to his 7thbirthday monitoring of little Alex must be constant, even at night to check breathing, carefully during play and checking the palms of the hands to make sure it doesn't go  in oxygen debt and many other daily precautions and attentions. Fortunately, as he grows, infections, rhinitis and other common minor ailments become less common. After the age of seven, medical check-ups become annual, partly because of an improvement in the management of the disease, being the older child, but unfortunately also because the mother loses her job and the family has fewer resources and Alex's disease unfortunately takes a back seat. When Alex's case is reported to theAssociazione partner Una voce per Padre Pio, the family's focus is on primary needs: nutrition, education and response to medical emergencies for Alex and his sisters. 

At the end of November 2023, our Partner intercepts and reports Alex's case and a humanitarian consortium is immediately formed to correct his congenital heart disease and allow him to live a long and peaceful life. The Una Voce per Padre Pio Association involves theOspedale del Cuore di Massa to take charge of Alex's case and theAssociazione “Un Cuore un Mondo” who takes care of the extra-hospital expenses for Alex and his mother while our Flight Operations Manager obtains all the necessary documentation for the flight to health and purchases the tickets.

The departure

Alex left Abidjan on January 15th and landed in Florence where he was welcomed by the Guardian Angelsairport volunteers involved by Flying Angels who welcomed Alex and his mother and accompanied them in their movements within the airport. Hospitalization, given the severity of the diagnosis and the lack of adequate therapies on site, was considered urgent and the operation was immediately carried out.

Surgery

The surgery to correct Alex's congenital heart disease went very well, so much so that, despite an expected hospital stay of 60 days, Alex was discharged after just two weeks.

Back home

On January 31, Alex and his mother returned to Ivory Coast to be reunited with his father and sisters.