Zoe Grace’s Heart

Baby Zoe Grace Naidu was four days old when she was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome‚ a rare congenital defect in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped.

Zoe had her first open heart surgery at eight days old. At three months old, her parents were told that she is now in acute cardiac failure. The best would be for Zoe to get a heart transplant but in South Africa they have never listed a baby before because there is no donor pool. The doctors said if they can get a possible match for Zoe they will do the transplant but there are just no donors.

The daily and ongoing medical costs to care for Zoe and help her be comfortable, even if she cannot be healed without a transplant, are exorbitant. The medical costs are typically up to R 15 000 a month and are not covered by medical aid. The cost of specialist and other doctor visits are over and above this and run into thousands of Rands already.

Zoe's family is looking at options whether an infant heart transplant can be done outside the country. This would be at significant additional cost (if it is even possible) and funds would need to be raised urgently for this if a donor becomes available.

Zoe's story has been shared on television and her story has been covered in the media, touching the hearts of many people. You can see the media stories here http://thepostza.pressreader.com/post/20170830/tex...

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017...

https://www.facebook.com/postnewspaper/posts/14575...

The news of Zoe's story prompted people to ask how they could help her and this crowdfunding page has been set up to do that. If you can help baby Zoe and her family financially with even the smallest amount, it would be much appreciated.