LaRelle Catherman of MEDRIX (left) with the mother whose son will receive two life-saving heart operations

MEDRIX has sponsored an eight-month-old boy (left) to have two life-saving heart surgeries.

Two operations are necessary to correct the baby’s condition called Fallot, a congenital heart defect involving up to four abnormalities.

“When they see the child is better they refuse the second operation,” MEDRIX director LaRelle Catherman said.

“The stress of having a child go through heart surgery is increased by the difficulty of poverty, loss of income, arranging for their other children to be cared for, getting food and caring for a child who has just had surgery.”

Some of the primary symptoms of Fallot include: low blood-oxygen levels, heart murmurs - ranging from almost imperceptible to very loud - difficulty in feeding, failure to gain weight, retarded physical development and clubbing of the fingers and toes. For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetralogy_of_Fallot.

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