Christopher’s Open Heart Surgery

During our Holy Week vacation in Quezon, our former helper of 10 years Mercy Cabrera asked for our help to create a crowdfunding site for his nephew Christopher Dañez who is in need of an immediate open heart surgery. We would like to use the power of human compassion and knock into your kind hearts to help us raise funds for Christopher's open heart surgery.

Christopher, a 6- year old boy, was born with congenital heart disease which was discovered when a medical mission team conducted health assessments at his school. The doctors from the medical mission advised further evaluation. In December 15, 2016, Christopher went to Quezon Medical Center for a echocardiography and color flow Doppler test. The test results confirmed his condition.

Results showed that he suffers from severe aortic stenosis. This means that his heart's aortic valve is narrowing and prevents the valve from opening fully. Prior to being diagnosed, Christopher has always been frail and is easily t ired from even the slightest physical exertion. His nose bled frequently and he experienced shortness of breath-- all are symptoms of severe valve narrowing.

Despite their poor financial condition, his family pulled enough funds to have him checked at the Philippine Heart Center. His doctor advised immediate operation which will cost PHP 500,000.00 or close to $11,000.00 . Without the operation, his doctor said that his chances of surviving is very low and he might live for only another 3 years.

Christopher's family needs all the help they can get to support his treatment and operation. His mother, Angelita makes less than PHP 100.00 or $2.00 by selling fruits and vegetables. She raises Christopher and his 8 year old daughter without any support from their father. To make matters worse, she suffers from a genetic skin disease called neurofibromatosis, which causes tumors to form all over her body. She is also treating a thyroid goiter.

All the proceed of this fund-raising project will go into his surgery and medication. The results of this Doppler test and diagnosis are available on this page. His doctor at Philippine Heart Center did not provide a documented quote, but the rates surgical packages can be found on this link: https://www.phc.gov.ph/services/treatment.php.

Thank you for reading this story and we thank you for any donation, big or small.