Rashmi

Rashmi Rao, a shy 14-year-old girl hailing from the beautiful town of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Despite being one of four siblings, she holds the special place of being the youngest and most adored child in her family. Her father, Ramesh Kumar, works as a laborer and earns a modest income of Rs. 5000 per month. With the responsibility of supporting a family of six, their financial struggles often require the occasional assistance from their extended family.

Rashmi's parents first became aware of her health condition when she was just six months old. They visited various hospitals, including Sri Satya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital, in search of answers. Unfortunately, Rashmi's health continued to deteriorate, and her parents even sought the advice of renowned cardiologist Dr. K.K. Aggarwal at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram.

Amidst their struggles, the Heart Care Foundation of India stepped forward to provide financial assistance for Rashmi's first surgery, Glenn, in 2019. Fortunately, a friend of the family had already reached out to the Child Heart Foundation (CHF), which also provided them with financial aid and support for the surgery.

Upon contacting the CHF team, Rashmi's parents brought her to their center, where Dr. Vikas Kohli conducted an echo and diagnosed her with Hypoplastic Left Ventricle (HPLV), Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV), and Pulmonary Stenosis (PS/SP Glenn). Dr. Kohli informed her parents about the required FONTAN surgery, with an estimated treatment cost of Rs. 500,000.

Rashmi's condition worsened, with episodes of coughing up blood and each day becoming a nightmare for her parents. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the CHF team worked swiftly to arrange funds through Smile of Hope. Finally, her parents received the instructions to bring her to Delhi for the much-awaited FONTAN surgery, which, by the grace of God, was a success.

Throughout her journey, Rashmi displayed incredible resilience and refused to give up. Despite facing numerous challenges at such a young age, her greatest dream was to live a life free from shortness of breath and fainting spells. Witnessing her confidently navigate the stairs without any difficulty fills us with immense joy.

Rashmi can now focus on her studies.

She is now has regular follow-ups and is getting better day by day.

Rashmi’s Father said:

"She never gave up and battled until she was victorious. She had gone through a lot as a youngster, and her biggest dream was to live a life without shortness of breath or fainting. Itgives us great pleasure to see her navigate the stairs without trouble."