Fatemeh's Medical Case
A Success Story: Treatment of Congenital Heart DefectWednesday, February 8, 2017
Fatemeh Zahra is an 8-month old girl from Sirjan city. She suffers from Patent Ductus Arteriosus(PDA) and Tracheal Esophageal Artesia. Her father used to work at a grocery store but he lost his job because of daily shuttles between his work place and the hospital where Fatemeh was being treated. At present, Fatemeh's family is living on government subsidies and relatives' support. They live in a place owned by her aunt. Following her referral to the charity, Zanjireh Omid's doctors diagnosed her disease as DiGeorge syndrome (Characteristic symptoms include congenital heart disease and mild differences in facial feature such as low set ears and wide-set eyes, etc.). She underwent an open-heart surgery under the full support of charity and was hospitalized at Children's House. During her post-op recovery, her swallowing and speech problems improved significantly. She used to suffer from acid reflux and had difficulty establishing oral feeding, which had hindered her weight gain and growth. Eventually her nutritive sucking improved and the reflux stopped after a ten-session speech therapy.